PROCEEDINGS 

OF  THE 

Nicaragua  Canal 
Convention 

Held  at  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

IN  IMV 

EXPOSITION  Ml    X  HALL 

ON 

The  2nd  and        0^3  J""^ 

1892  ^ 


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SOUTHERN  BRANCH^ 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 

LIBRARY, 
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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofnicOOhati 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF  THE 

Nicaragua  Canal 
Convention 

Held  at  5t.  Louis,  Mo. 

IN  THE 

EXPOSITION  MU5IC  HALL 

ON 

The  2nd  and  3rd  Days  of  June 
1892 

50082 


TO 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 

Nicaragua  Canal  Convention 


Held  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  the  Exposition  Music 
Hall  on  the  2nd  and  3rd  Days  of 
June,  1892. 


The  Convention  was  called  to  order  on  the  3d  day  of  June,  1892,  at 
10:30  A.  M.,  by  Marcus  Bernheimer,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ar- 
rangements of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Convention,  and,  after  welcoming  the 
•delegates,  he  called  upon  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Stimpson,  who  opened  the  Con- 
vention with  prayer.  ,^ 

The  presiding  officer  called  for  ^nominations  for  temporary  chairman. 
Honorable  Nathan  Frank,  in  the  name  of  the  Missouri  delegation,  named 
ex-Governor  E.  O.  Stanard  for  temporary  chairman,  who  was  elected  by 
a  unanimous  vote.  Governor  Stanard  then  took  the  platform  and  addressed 
the  Convention  as  follows : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  : 

I  desire  to  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  have  conferred 
upon  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  and  also  upon  myself,  in  nomin- 
ating me  to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  this  conven- 
tion, temporarily.  This  convention,  as  you  know,  is  called 
for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  propriety  of  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and,  (as  I  understand),  of  urging 
its  importance.  Of  course,  in  any  preliminary  remarks,  which 
would  be  made  by  a  temporary  officer,  it  would  not  be  expected 
that  he  should  enter  into  the  details  of  the  work  or  give 
any  elaborate  reasons  why  it  should  be  undertaken.  There  are 
gentlemen  here  who  have  been  giving  this  subject  careful  and 
intelligent  attention  for  years,  who  have  written  and  spoken  upon 
this  subject,  and  they  are  here  to-day,  not  only  to  enlighten  the 
convention,  if  this  should  be  necessary,  but  to  enlighten  the 
people  and  the  law-makers  of  the  United  States  upon  this  subject, 


4 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


which  is  conceded  to  be  of  such  vast  importance  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  world.  Therefore,  above  all,  I 
desire  to  say  that,  while  I  am  not  an  engineer,  and  do  not  know 
as  to  the  practicability  of  the  construction  of  this  canal,  from  an 
engineering  or  scientific  standpoint,  as  a  business  man,  I  do  know 
that  it  is  a  safe  proposition  for  me  to  assert — and  to  assert  in 
behalf  of  the  business  interests  of  the  country — that  if  ten  thous- 
and miles  in  transportation  can  be  saved  in  passing  from  the  ports- 
of  the  Atlantic  to  the  ports  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  it  is,  a  matter 
of  vital  importance,  which  should  be  thoroughly  considered. 
(Applause.) 

Instead  of  traveling  fifteen  thousand  miles  by  water  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco,  you  will  travel  four  thousand  nine 
hundred  miles  by  the  way  of  this  canal,  if  it  is  constructed  and 
practically  managed,  and  instead  of  going  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  to  San  Francisco,  a  distance  of  fourteen  thousand 
miles,  the  distance  will  be  shortened  to  four  thousand  miles. 
(Applause).  And  in  these  days  of  rapid  transit,  of  rapid  thought, 
of  rapid  action,  and  of  telegraphic  communication,  not  only  in 
our  own  country,  but  upon  the  seas  and  around  the  world,  we  are 
not  to  stop  and  hesitate  at  the  cost  when  ten  thousand  miles  of 
transit  can  be  saved,  and  when  the  time  it  takes  can  be  reduced 
from  four  months  and  a-half  or  five  months,  down  to  thirty  days. 

It  may  be  asked  what  interest  St.  Louis  and  the  Mississippi 
Valley  have  in  this  great  enterprise.  We  are  neither  upon  the 
Atlantic  nor  upon  the  Pacific  Ocean,  but  the  people  upon  the 
borders,  upon  the  Atlantic  and  upon  the  Pacific,  are  part  and 
parcel  of  this  great  country,  and  St.  Louis  and  the  Mississippi 
Valley  are  in  the  center.  And  St.  Louis  is  interested  in  every- 
thing that  leads  to  the  interest  of  our  common  country.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

I  am  not  speaking  of  the  necessities  of  additional  trans- 
portation in  this  great  country  of  ours,  for  this  is  a  subject  that 
I  dare  not  enter  upon,  and  it  will  be  treated  by  other  gentlemen. 
This  I  read  in  somebody's  great  speech  when  I  was  a  boy:  "You 
can  only  judge  the  future  by  the  past.-"  We  have  been  doubling 
in  population  in  the  United  States  about  every  thirty  years  for 
the  past  one  hundred  years.  We  doubled  as  accurately  from 
thirty  millions  in  i860  to  sixty-two  millions  in  1890,  as  we  had 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


5 


ever  doubled  on  the  smaller  numbers  in  the  years  before,  and  I 
believe  now  that  with  the  start  the  United  States  has,  with  her 
great  popularity  at  home  and  abroad,  the  world  over,  that  in 
1910  we  will  have  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  people 
in  the  United  States  to  look  after.  (Applause.)  The  duty  of  the 
present  generation  is  certainly  to  look  for  thirty  years  ahead,  to 
begin  to  lay  a  foundation  which  others  may  and  shall  build  upon 
in  the  near  future. 

Gentlemen,  I  promised  when  I  started  in  that  I  wouldn't  make 
a  speech,  and  I  propose  not  to  talk  longer.  Again  thanking  you 
for  the  honor  you  have  conferred  upon  me  in  calling  me  to  this 
position  of  temporary  Chairman,  I  will  say  really  that  I  should 
apologize  for  speaking  so  long,  and  say  to  you  that  the  conven- 
tion is  now  in  your  hands.  (Applause.) 

The  Chairman  then  asked  the  pleasure  of  the  convention. 

The  names  of  D.  H.  McAdam  and  S.  C.  Broadwell  of  St.  Louis  were 
proposed  for  Official  Secretaries.    Unanimously  carried. 

It  was  moved  and  carried  that  a  Committee  on  Permanent  Organiza- 
tion, composed  of  one  member  from  each  State  and  Territory  represented, 
be  appointed. 

It  was  also  moved  and  carried  that  a  Committee  on  Credentials,  to  be 
similarly  constituted,  be  appointed. 

Also  moved  and  carried  that  a  like  Committee  on  Order  of  Business, 
Resolutions,  etc  ,  be  appointed. 

The  Chairman  : — I  want  to  state  that  it  is  necessary  that  the  forma- 
tion of  these  committees  should  be  put  under  way.  Now,  I  would  ask 
imder  the  resolutions  that  have  been  adopted  naming  these  respective  com- 
mittees, that  the  Chairman  of  each  Delegation  of  each  State  and  Territory 
represented,  send  up  to  the  Secretary,  some  time  in  the  next  hour  or  so, 
the  names  of  the  gentlemen  they  desire  to  have  upon  those  respective 
committees ;  then  we  will  be  in  a  position  to  proceed.  In  the  meantime,  gen- 
tlemen of  the  convention,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  the  Honorable 
D.  R.  Francis,  Governor  of  -the  State  of  Missouri,  who  will  welcome  you. 

Governor  Francis  spoke  as  follows : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  : 

This  is  not  exactly  a  university  commencement,  such  as  within 
a  period  of'  twenty-four  hours  it  was  my  expectation  to  attend 
to-day,  but  I  trust  that  it  is  the  commencement  of  a  popular 
agitation  upon  a  great  commercial  enterprise,  which  will  continue 
until  the  people  of  this  entire  country  are  aroused  to  the  import- 
ance of  connecting  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans  by  a  ship 
canal  across  Central  America.  (Applause.) 


6 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


As  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  State  in  which  the  first  National 
Nicaragua  Canal  Convention  is  held,  it  affords  me  pleasure  to 
welcome  the  delegates  to  the  scene  of  their  deliberations.  Free 
speech  is  one  of  the  dearest  rights  vouchsafed  to  the  American 
people.  It  is  their  unalienable  right  to  meet  in  convention  to 
formulate  and  promulgate  their  views  upon  any  great  public  ques- 
tions which  agitate  the  people  of  the  country,  or  which  merit 
their  consideration.  Gatherings  for  the  purpose  of  giving  ex- 
pression to  views  concerning  political  issues,  concerning  economic 
questions  of  domestic  application,  concerning  interests  pertaining 
to  classes  or  sections  of  our  country,  are  of  frequent  occurrence, 
but  seldom,  if  ever  before,  has  there  been  a  national  gathering 
in  this  country,  called  for  the  purpose  of  considering  a  great  com- 
mercial enterprise  in  a  foreign  country,  hundreds  of  miles  beyond 
our  borders.  Such  an  assemblage  augurs  well  for  the  commerce 
of  the  United  States.  Commerce  is  the  chiefest  handmaiden  of 
civilization,  and  it  has  often  been  the  precursor  of  empire.  Great 
Britain,  whose  proud  boast  it  is  that  the  sun  never  sets  upon  her 
possessions,  extended  her  domain  from  the  narrow  confines  of  the 
English  Channel  and  the  Irish  Sea,  by  the  enterprise  of  her  mer- 
chants, nurtured  and  protected  by  an  aggressive  governmental 
policy.  The  surplus  production  of  this  country  should  long  since 
have  made  the  United  States  a  strong  maritime  power. 

Four  hundred  years  ago,  Columbus,  in  attempting  to  find  the 
northwest  passage  to  India,  discovered  America.  The  rapid 
progress  that  has  been  made  in  the  settlement  and  development 
of  this  hemisphere,  is  soon  to  be  demonstrated  to  the  world 
by  an  exposition  in  the  great  city  of  Chicago.  (Applause.) 
It  has  long  been  accepted  by  the  best  thinking  men  of  the  age, 
that  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans  should  be  connected  by  a 
ship  canal.  The  Monroe  doctrine  is  as  dear  to  the  people  of  to- 
day, and  is  as  tenaciously  held  as  it  was,  when,  in  1823,  it  was 
enunciated  by  the  illustrious  President,  whose  name  it  bears, 
when  he  said  to  foreign  powers:  "We  cannot  view  any  interposi- 
tion in  controlling  the  destinies  of  independent  American  nations 
in  any  other  light  than  as  an  unfriendly  disposition  towards  the 
United  States."  If  it  were  left  to-day  to  the  suffrages  of  the 
people  of  this  country  to  determine  who  should  control  the  canal 
connecting  the  waters  that  wash  the  shores  of  New  York  and  the 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


7 


waters  that  wash  the  shores  of  California,  the  answer  would  come 
back  in  no  uncertain  tone.  It  only  remains,  therefore,  to  be 
demonstrated  that  it  is  feasible  to  construct  a  canal  between  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans.  That  fact  once  being  established 
and  accepted  by  the  people  of  this  country,  the  United  States 
Government  must  control  it  (loud  applause)  through  its  citizens, 
if  it  can,  but  control  it  it  must.  (Applause.) 

Then,  the  only  question  to  be  determined  is,  after  the  feasibil- 
ity of  its  construction  has  been  established,  "  Shall  our  Govern- 
ment encourage  its  building,  buy  it  when  built,  or  fight  for  it 
when  constructed?" 

The  commercial  importance  of  this  great  enterprise  needs  no 
demonstration  from  me.  The  object  of  this  convention  is,  as  I 
understand  it,  merely  to  educate  and  arouse  an  interest  among 
the  people  as  to  its  importance.  Distinguished  engineers,  I  under- 
stand, however,  have  demonstrated  its  feasibility.  A  route  that 
will  connect,  at  a  distance  of  ten  thousand  miles  nearer  than  that 
now  followed,  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  harbors  of  our  country,  is 
undoubtedly  an  undertaking  that  merits  the  support  of  every 
right-thinking  American  citizen.  (Applause.)  Do  you  know 
that  to-day  the  harbors  of  California  and  the  Pacific  coast  are 
nearer  by  water  through  the  Suez  Canal  to  Liverpool  and  to  the 
the  harbors  of  France  than  they  are  to  those  of  New  York? 

The  Nicaragua  Canal,  as  I  understand,  proposes  to  shorten 
the  distance  between  New  York  and  San  Francisco  by  ten  thou- 
sand miles.  It  will  therefore  solidify  our  common  country.  But 
not  only  that;  it  will  bring  us  into  closer  commercial  relation 
with  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  countries  of  Asia,  with 
Australia  and  with  those  governments  of  South  America  with 
whom  we  are  so  closely  allied  by  common  forms  of  government. 
It  is  undoubtedly  the  sincere  desire  of  every  American  citizen  that 
the  commerce  of  the  United  States  should  be  extended  to  the  utter- 
most limit.  The  present  canal  company  has  surveyed  the  route 
through  the  countries  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica,  and  eminent 
engineers  have  given  it  as  their  judgment,  that  the  construction 
of  a  canal  through  those  countries  is  not  only  feasible,  but  can 
be  effected  by  the  expenditure  of  a  less  sum  than  one  hundred 
millions  of  dollars. 

Is  is  confidently  asserted  that  the  patriotic  and  public-spirited 


8 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


citizens  who  have  gone  to  the  expense  of  making  this  survey,  who 
have  already  made  an  outlay  of  nearly  or  quite  five  millions  of 
dollars,  have  had  propositions  from  English  and  French  capital 
for  the  completion  of  the  canal,  and  the  experience  of  the  French 
people  in  expending  over  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  in  a  vain 
effort  to  construct  the  Panama  Canal  would  seem  to  substantiate 
the  truth  of  this  statement,  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  believe 
that  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  who  approaches  his  gov- 
ernment with  a  proposition  to  lend  moral  or  material  aid  in  a 
great  public  enterprise  is  solely  prompted  by  selfish  motives  or  by 
sinister  designs.  (Applause.) 

I  hold  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Father  of  our  Country,  that  the 
United  States  should  abstain  from  all  entangling  alliances.  I 
believe  that  paternity  of  government  is  inconsistent  with  the  un- 
derlying principle  of  our  institutions,  and  that  it  should  not  be 
encouraged  in  a  government  all  of  whose  just  powers  are  derived 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed.  But,  American  liberty  does 
not  require  of  its  votaries  that  they  live  in  a  country  crippled  in 
power  or  humilitated  in  spirit.  The  true  glory  and  strength  of 
our  government  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  furnishes  its  citizens  the 
best  protection  from  the  aggressions  of  power.  We  have  a  gov- 
ernment strong  enough  to  protect  the  American  citizen  against 
foreign  aggression,  and  a  government  that  is  not  possessed  of 
enough  lawful  power  to  wrong  a  single  citizen  of  the  Republic. 
(Applause.)  From  whatever  standpoint,  therefore,  sir,  we  view 
this  great  enterprise,  whether  we  desire  to  use  the  canal  connect- 
ing these  two  oceans  for  the  purpose  of  solidifying  this  country, 
or  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  us  into  closer  commercial  relations 
with  other  nations  of  the  world,  it  is  certainly  a  consummation 
devoutly  to  be  hoped  for.  We  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  have 
long  been  persuaded  that  the  material  welfare  of  our  entire 
country  would  be  greatly  accelerated  by  cheap  water  transporta- 
tion. 

That  illustrious  Missourian,  the  distinguished  Eads,  demon- 
strated to  us,  by  successfully  completing  and  constructing  the  jet- 
ties at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  that  this  great  Father  of 
Waters  could  be  so  improved  as  to  bring  the  rich  producing 
regions  on  its  banks  into  close  commercial  relations  with  the  con- 
suming markets  of  the  world.    That  stream  is  under  the  control 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


9 


of  the  Federal  Government,  Private  enterprise  cannot  improve 
it.  Still,  gentlemen,  the  fact  that  we  have  been  unable  to  secure 
from  the  Federal  Government  that  aid  that  we  merit,  renders  us 
none  the  less  desirous  to  see  other  obstacles  removed  from  the 
pathway  of  commerce.  (Applause.)  That  was  a  short-sighted 
statesman,  and  one  ignorant  of  the  capabilities  of  his  country, 
who  said  that  he  would  the  waters  connecting  the  shores  of  the 
old  and  new  worlds  could  be  replaced  with  a  sea  of  fire.  We 
want  to  extend  our  commerce  with  all  the  nations  of  the  world, 
and  many  if  not  most  of  us,  desire  to  see  it  as  untrammeled  as 
the  necessities  of  an  economically  administered  government  and 
a  well-protected  country  will  permit  of.     (Loud  applause.) 

Let  us,  therefore,  aid  and  encourage  such  public  enterprise  as 
a  ship  canal  connecting  the  two  oceans.  We  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  are  particularly  interested  in  this  enterprise.  We  are  now 
the  centre  of  the  producing  region  of  this  country;  we  are  the 
geographical  centre  of  the  Republic.  When  the  canal  is  com- 
pleted, w^hen  the  fertile  valleys,  the  rich  mines  and  the  teeming 
forests  of  the  Pacific  slope  are  brought  into  closer  proximity  with 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  with  the  consuming  markets  of  Europe, 
then  will  there  be  uniform  and  universal  development  and 
advancement  of  all  the  interests  and  of  all  the  sections  of  our 
country.  Then  Missouri,  the  scene  of  your  first  National  Con- 
vention, will  be  the  centre  of  our  population,  the  centre  of  our 
wealth,  and  the  centre  of  our  political  power.     (Loud  applause.) 

The  Chairman  introduced  Judge  Estee  of  California,  who  made  the 
following  speech  to  the  convention : 

M?'.  Chairman  and  Gentlemefi  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Convention  : 

I  think  I  voice  the  sentiment  of  the  people  of  the  Pacific 
slope  when  I  return  to  the  people  of  St.  Louis  and  of  Missouri, 
and  to  its  distinguished  Chief  Executive,  our  very  grateful  appre- 
ciation of  the  kindness  that  your  Chief  Executive  has  been  pleased 
to  extend  to  us,  and  also  to  express  to  you,  the  people  of  St. 
Louis,  our  appreciation  of  the  many  courtesies  which  you  have 
already  granted,  and  which  you  propose  to  extend  to  us  in  the 
future.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Chairman,  we  ventured  to  cross  a  continent  to  consult 
you  on  a  question  of  great  public  concern.     California,  on  the 


TO 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


29th  day  of  last  March,  held  a  State  Nicaragua  Canal  Convention, 
at  which  it  adopted  certain  resolutions,  in  relation  to  the  great 
question  which  has  called  us  here  for  consideration.  And,  con- 
trary to  my  usual  custom,  and  for  fear  that  I  might  do  injustice 
to  the  people  of  our  coast,  and  especially  to  California  and  the 
delegation  whose  sentiments  I  voice  for  the  time,  I  have  placed 
in  writing  what  that  convention  did.  At  that  convention  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions,  which,  if  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  read,  were 
adopted : 

Resolved,  By  the  California  State  Nicaragua  Convention,  duly  assem- 
bled at  San  Francisco  this  29th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1892 :  That  it  is  deemed 
wise  and  expedient  that  a  National  Nicaragua  Canal  Convention  should 
be  held  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  on  the  second  day  of  June,  1892 ;  and  for 
that  purpose  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  California  be  respectfully 
requested  to  communicate  with  the  Governors  of  all  the  States  and  Terri- 
tories of  the  United  States,  asking  each  of  said  Governors  to  select  from 
among  the  leading  citizens  of  such  State  or  Territory,  delegates  to  said 
Nicaragua  Canal  Convention,  to  be  held  at  the  time  and  place  above  men- 
tioned, and  that  each  of  said  States  and  Territories  shall  be  entitled  to  a 
representation  in  said  National  Convention,  equal  to  two  delegates  for  every 
Senator  and  Member  of  Congress  from  the  States,  and  two  delegates  for 
every  Delegate  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  from  the  Territories. 

Resolved,  That  the  Governors  of  the  said  States  and  Territories  be 
respectfully  requested  to  select  the  delegates  to  said  National  Convention 
as  near  as  may  be  in  equal  numbers  from  the  great  national  parties ;  the 
object  being  that  said  National  Nicaragua  Canal  Convention  shall  voice 
the  best  judgment  of  the  people  of  this  country,  and  shall  in  no  sense  be 
a  partisan  convention.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Chairman,  these  resolutions  explain  themselves,  and  show 
in  part  how  this  convention  was  called,  but  the  California  Con- 
vention also  selected  an  Executive  Committee  of  nine,  giving  to 
that  committee  full  power  and  authority,  which  committee,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  San  Francisco, 
and  by  direction  of  the  convention,  also  provided  for  the  repre- 
sentation in  the  National  Convention  here  assembled  of  all  com- 
mercial bodies  of  the  United  States. 

Now,  this  course  was  adopted,  Mr.  Chairman,  as  to  the  com- 
mercial bodies,  because  it  was  believed  the  San  Francisco  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  was  nearer  in  touch  with  the  other  commercial 
bodies  of  the  country  than  the  convention  could  possible  be. 
Permit  me  here  to  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  California  State 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


Convention  adopted  also  a  memorial  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  copies  of  which  are  before  you,  and  it  adopted 
also  an  address  to  the  American  people,  which  has  been,  or  will 
be,  distributed  to  each  of  the  members  of  this  convention.  These 
documents,  gentlemen,  are  not  presented  to  you  as  a  forecast  of 
what  should  be  done  by  this  convention,  but  only  as  a  history  of 
what  was  done  by  us.  We  could  not  anticipate  your  wishes;  we 
only  express  our  own.  We  come  to  you,  gentlemen,  for  counsel ; 
we  have  no  previously  conceived  plans  which  we  would  unduly 
urge  upon  your  attention.  We  do  know,  though,  that  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  should  be  built,  and  if  permitted,  even  in  this 
opening  statement,  Mr.  Chairman,  we  will  give  some  of  the  rea- 
sons which  inspired  our  action  in  this  matter. 

First :  We  believe  the  building  of  a  ship  canal,  uniting  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  is  feasible. 

Second :  We  believe  the  American  people  should  build  it,  and 
that  the  American  Government  should  control  it  after  it  is  built. 
(Applause.) 

To  demonstrate  the  possibility  of  this  work,  we  can  but  refer 
you  to  the  following  facts: 

In  1872,  President  Grant  appointed  Gen.  A.  A.  Humphreys, 
Captain  C.  C.  Patterson,  and  Admiral  Ammen,  who  was  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Navigation,  to  examine  into,  make  suggestions  and  report 
upon,  the  subject  of  inter-oceanic  ship  canal  communications  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien.  In  pursuance  of  that  order,  these  three 
distinguished  engineers  visited  this  locality  and  surveyed  the 
routes.  Three  were  conspicuously  more  practicable  than  the 
others.  The  Tehuantepec  was  150  miles  in  length,  with  an  alti-  ^ 
tude  of  765  feet.  Nicaragua  was  169  miles  in  length,  with  an  ^ 
altitude  of  153  feet.  Panama  was  47  miles  in  length,  with  an 
altitude  of  325  feet.  On  February  7th,  1876,  and  after  the  most 
careful  examination  of  all  these  routes,  these  distinguished  en- 
gineers reported  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  detail ;  ^ 
but,  summed  up,  the  report  is,  that  the  Nicaragua  route  possesses, 
both  for  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  a  canal,  great 
advantages,  and  offers  fewer  difficulties,  from  engineering,  com- 
mercial and  economic  points  of  view,  than  any  of  the  other 
routes.  It  is  shown  to  be  practicable  by  surveys  sufficiently  in 
detail  to  enable  a  judgment  to  be  formed  of  their  relative  merits. 


12 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


And  to  this  report  1  venture  to  add,  in  the  name  of  our  dele- 
/gation,  that  Major  C.  E.  Button,  a  well-known  and  distinguished 
engineer,  belonging  to  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  was  ap- 
pointed to  survey  this  route,  and  made  a  report  on  the  i8th  of 
March,  1892. 

In  conclusion,  this  distinguished  gentleman  says:  "It  remains 
for  me  to  say  that  I  am  satisfied  that  the  project  of  the  company 
for  a  canal  is  entirely  practical,  within  the  estimates,  and  if  the 
financial  means  are  forthcoming,  the  result  will  be  assured." 
(Applause.) 

Now,  gentlemen,  a  fair  and  conservative  estimate  of  the  cost 
of  this  canal,  both  by  American  and  foreign  engineers,  which 
estimate  is  made  in  detail  13y  the  engineers  I  have  referred  to,  is 
$87,084,176.  Therefore,  I  assume,  California  assumes,  the  busi- 
ness world  assumes,  that  this  is  a  practical,  feasible  engineering 
problem,  and  that  it  can  be  built,  if  that  money  is  procured  to 
build  it.  (Applause.) 

Why  should  it  be  built?  Why,  my  friends,  this  canal  will 
shorten  the  distance  to  us,  as  has  been  stated  to  you  by  your  dis- 
tinguished Governor,  from  one  ocean  to  the  other,  about  ten  thou- 
sand miles,  and  it  would  seem  to  need  no  argument  for  me  to  show 
that  it  should  be  built — built  by  American  capital  and  controlled 
by  the  American  nation.  (Applause.)  For  if  not  built  by  Ameri- 
cans, it  will  be  built  by  some  one  inimical  to  American  interests. 

The  United  States  to-day  is  the  leading  nation  of  the  western 
world  (applause),  and  it  ought  to  perform  all  the  duties  and 
assume  all  the  grave  and  leading  responsibilities  incident  to  its 
great  power  (applause) ;  for  the  future  prosperity  and  the  national 
integrity  of  this  country  will  be  imperiled  if  some  other  nation 
owns  or  controls  this  great  waterway.  Hence,  let  me  warn  you 
that  delays  are  dangerous,  and  that  a  waiting  policy  will  be  a 
dangerous  policy  for  the  American  people  to  adopt  in  this  matter, 
because  this  canal  is  a  commercial  and  national  necessity. 

In  this  connection,  and  before  I  proceed  further,  let  me  remind 
you  that  the  delegates  to  this  convention  are  here  to  represent  a 
cause,  and  not  private  interests ;  that  no  political  significance  is 
attached  to  its  proceedings;  that  we  are  but  the  voluntary  repre- 
sentatives of  the  industrial  and  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
American  people,  and  thus  we  can  only  voice  their  wishes.  But, 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


13 


let  me  remind  you  also,  that  if  not  to-day,  in  the  near  future  we 
will  have  a  following  more  unselfish,  more  patriotic;  we  will  rep- 
resent interests  more  stupendous,  and  commercial  possibilities  in- 
finitely greater  than  any  which  have  hitherto  commanded  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  living  on  the  Western  Continent.  In  this 
convention  may  we  not  pause  also  to  consider  that  after  thirty 
years  of  conflicting  opinions,  of  geographical  and  partisan  divis- 
ions among  the  people  of  this  Union,  representative  men  from  all 
parts  of  our  country  meet  here  as  friends,  with  interests  in  com- 
mon (applause),  with  hopes  more  than  half  realized,  and  with  as- 
pirations as  unselfish  as  any  that  ever  animated  the  human  heart? 
We  commence,  then,  with  a  happy  omen;  we  approach  this  sub- 
ject with  no  regrets,  with  no  heart  burnings,  with  nothing  to  take 
back,  nothing  to  apologize  for. 

It  is  true,  gentlemen,  that  California  is  responsible  for  calling 
you  together,  but  every  State  in  the  Union  is  interested  in  this 
great  work,  and  we,  at  most,  can  only  tell  you  what  you  already 
know.  And  yet,  we  may  remind  you  that  we,  of  the  far  Pacific, 
are  citizens  of  a  common  country,  and  that  we  represent  people 
from  every  State  in  the  Union;  that  by  sea  we  are  fifteen  thousand 
miles  from  you  of  the  East,  which  is  three-fifths  of  the  distance 
around  the  globe;  that  we  want  to  shorten  that  distance  by  build- 
ing the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  thus  get  nearer  to  you  and  make 
you  know  us  better  (applause)  than  you  do  now,  make  you  know 
our  products  better  and  get  better  acquainted  with  yours. 

Remember  also,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  in  time  of  war  the  de- 
fense of  the  Pacific  coast  is  the  defense  of  a  part  of  your  country, 
and  that  we  are  too  far  away  by  sea  to  make  that  defense  effect- 
ual. We  ask,  therefore,  for  your  protection.  Our  people  are 
your  people,  and  so,  speaking  for  the  far  West,  be  it  said  that  if 
there  were  no  other  consideration  for  the  building  of  the  Nicara- 
gua Canal  than  as  a  measure  of  protection  for  the  Pacific  States 
and  Territories,  it  ought  to  be  built.  (Applause).  For  it  is  as 
much  a  patriotic  duty  of  the  whole  country  to  do  this  as  it  is  to 
improve  the  rivers  and  harbors,  to  build  fortifications,  to  make 
guns,  to  build,  man  and  equip  ships  of  war.  Should  it  not  be 
the  proud  privilege  of  every  American  citizen  to  defend  every 
other  American  citizen,  however  remote  he  may  live  from  the 
great  centre  of  that  republic?  (Applause). 


14 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION, 


Gentlemen,  the  commercial  interests  of  our  country  demand 
the  building  of  this  canal;  its  construction  will  benefit  every  man 
and  promote  every  interest  in  the  whole  Union. 

Remember,  also,  this  is  an  age  of  commercial  progress;  new 
questions  are  before  us  to-day,  new  demands  are  made  upon  us; 
we  must  act,  and  we  must  act  now.  It  is  vain  and  futile  to  look 
for  a  historical  precedent  to  fit  the  case  now  before  us.  We  are 
making  history  too  fast  for  that.  It  will  be  vain  and  futile  to  re- 
fer to  the  experiences  of  the  fathers  of  the  republic,  or  attempt  to 
find  reasons  in  our  early  history  why  this  country  should  or 
should  not  assist  in  building  this  great  waterway.  Bear  in  mind, 
my  friends,  that  America  is  no  longer  a  new  country.  This 
nation  is  no  longer  a  new  nation.  There  is  nothing  more  to  dis- 
cover, there  is  no  wilderness  lying  back  of  us,  skirting  and  wall- 
ing in  advancing  civilization.  The  American  people  are  now  de 
voted  to  the  pursuits  of  peace.  We  are  the  great  producers  of 
the  world;  we  produce  a  surplus,  and  we  want  new  and  better 
markets  for  that  surplus,  and  upon  the  question  of  good  markets 
depends  our  success  or  failure.  Cheap  and  quick  transportation 
creates  that  market  and  secures  a  fair  remuneration  to  the  pro- 
ducer. Indeed,  you  may  say  that  there  is  no  part  of  this  country 
which  does  not  produce  something  over,  and  there  is  no  part 
where  the  people  are  not  compelled  to  buy  something  that  they 
don't  produce  at  home,  but  which  they  must  have.  Look  at  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  the  whole  interior  of  that  country  with 
its  teeming  millions,  its  vast  and  boundless  resources,  its  great 
natural  waterways  which  in  time  will  open  to  the  commerce  of  the 
oceans.  It  thus  becomes  a  commercial  necessity  to  secure  and 
maintain  direct  communication  with  the  Pacific  Ocean,  with  the 
Pacific  States,  with  India  and  all  the  rest  of  Asia.  This  country 
cannot  prosper  unless  the  producers  prosper.  This  can  be  ac- 
complished, we  submit,  by  securing  cheap  and  quick  transporta- 
tion by  sea,  which  will  increase,  regulate  and  cheapen  transporta- 
tion by  land,  for  the  problem  of  the  hour  is  to  build  up  and  main- 
tain the  commerce  of  the  interior  of  our  country  by  enlarging  our 
foreign  commerce.  (Applause). 

The  future  wealth  of  the  nation,  my  friends,  depends  upon 
this.  In  this  connection  let  me  say,  we  are  here  to  build  up,  not 
to  pull  down  any  other  great  institution.    We  don't  propose  to 


NICARAGUA  CANAL 


CONVENTION. 


15 


interfere  with  the  railroads  that  travel  through  the  land.  They 
are  a  necessity,  but  they  must  stop  at  the  shores  of  the  sea. 
Last  year,  it  is  reported  by  the  statisticians  in  Washington  that 
the  internal  commerce  of  the  United  States  was  $32,874,000,000, 
three-fourths  of  which  was  transported  by  rail.  Remember,  how- 
ever, that  recently  water  communication  has  come  into  promi- 
nence. Look  at  the  possibilities  of  inland  water  navigation.  The 
Mississippi  River,  for  instance,  traverses  twenty-two  States,  has 
two  hundred  tributaries,  and  is  the  natural  outlet  for  over  one 
million  square  miles  of  territory,  and  if  properly  utilized,  this 
great  river  and  its  tributaries  would  furnish  navigable  water  trans- 
portation for  over  sixteen  thousand  miles  in  distance.  Many  of 
these  natural  waterways  have  in  the  past  been  neglected,  but  they 
are  now  thought  of  and  they  will  soon  be  successfully  used.  My 
friends,  you  once  make  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River  ten 
thousand  miles  nearer  the  Pacific  Ocean  than  it  now  is,  and  note 
the  marvelous  effect  it  will  have  on  the  productive  industries  of 
the  interior  of  our  country.  (Applause.)  If  I  was  gifted  with 
the  spirit  of  prophecy,  I  would  say  that,  however  necessary  to  the 
prosperity  of  our  country  railroads  may  be,  yet  the  future  wealth 
and  commercial  growth  of  the  interior  and  producing  States  of 
the  Union  will  greatly  depend  upon  the  construction  of  the  Nica- 
aragua  Canal,  and  upon  the  successful  navigation  and  the  in- 
creased use  of  the  great  lakes  and  the  Mississippi  River.  (Ap- 
plause.) I  would  say,  that  the  child  is  born  who  will  see  Chicago 
in  direct  and  easy  water  communication  with  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board at  New  York,  and  St.  Louis  a  shipping  point  for  Central 
America  and  the  far  Pacific  countries.  (Applause.)  I  would  say 
that  the  child  is  born  and  grown  to  manhood  who  will  see  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  completed,  who  will  see  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  and  the  Gulf  dotted  with  vessels,  going  to  and 
coming  from  the  Pacific  Ocean,  China,  Japan  and  India.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

To  repeat,  gentlemen,  and  to  impress  this  matter  more 
strongly  upon  you,  the  increasing  and  cheapening  of  transporta- 
tion by  sea  will  increase  and  cheapen  transportation  by  land.  In 
this  age  it  is  a  necessity  to  the  producer  that  his  product  be 
carried  quickly  and  cheaply  to  a  market;  transportation  thus  be- 
comes the  source  of  success  or  the  cause  of  failure,  and  it  is 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


equally  necessary  to  the  consumer  that  what  he  consumes  be 
brought  to  him  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  and  for  the  least 
amount  of  money.  Now  the  United  States  never  can  produce  the 
tea,  coffee,  India  rubber,  dye  stuff,  rare  woods  and  many  other 
articles  required  by  our  people.  We  will  always  look  to  foreign 
countries  for  much  we  need.  These  articles  must  be  brought  to 
ITS  by  sea.  This  being  so,  Mr.  Chairman,  our  success  will  largely 
depend  upon  the  question  of  time  in  transporting  them  by  water. 
Therefore,  if  time  and  distance  and  money  can  be  saved  by  mak- 
^  ing  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Nicaragua,  that  canal  must  be 
built,  and  it  will  be  built,  and  it  should  be  built  and  controlled  by 
our  government,  because  the  whole  people  need  it.  This  is  a 
government  of  the  people,  a  government  by  the  people  and  for  the 
people.  (Applause.) 

It  goes  without  saying,  that  when  this  canal  is  completed,  new 
and  better  markets  for  our  surplus  products  will  be  opened  to  us; 
new  and  greater  commercial  opportunities  will  be  afforded  us. 
Then  this  vast  producing  region,  known  as  the  great  West,  always 
including  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  instead  of  being  isolated 
from  the  trade  centres  of  the  world,  will  occupy  the  central  or 
pivotal  position,  between  the  oriental  countries  of  Asia  and  the 
rich  and  populous  portion  of  Western  Europe.  Then  this  will  be 
the  fountain  of  the  world's  wealth,  because  it  will  be  the  world's 
granary.  Then  will  be  demonstrated  for  the  first  time  the  truth 
of  the  prophecy  of  Bishop  Berkeley,  that  "  Westward  the  star  of 
empire  takes  its  way."  For  in  future,  the  wealthiest  nation  will 
be  the  most  powerful  nation,  in  peace  and  war,  and  American 
commerce  will  hold  dominion  over  the  sea  and  the  land.  (Ap- 
plause.) Then  the  husbandman  will  enjoy  the  privilege  of  selling 
his  own  products  at  home,  in  home  markets  for  foreign  as  well  as 
domestic  consumption,  and  this  will  be  made  possible  by  bring- 
ing to  his  door  means  for  sure,  quick  and  cheap  transportation  to 
foreign  and  distant  markets.  It  is  an  axiom  that  the  nearer  the 
consumer  to  the  producer,  the  better  it  is  for  both.  When  this 
canal  shall  be  completed,  the  great  rivers  which  flow  the  whole 
length  of  our  country  will  be  the  highway  of  that  commerce  that 
goes  over  the  water  and  beyond  the  seas.  (Applause.)  Then  the 
value  of  the  products  of  the  interior  and  extreme  Western  States 
of  the  Union  will  not  depend  on  the  long  haul  or  the  short  haul, 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


17 


but  rather  upon  the  practical  use  of  great  natural  and  artificial 
waterways,  and  the  shortening  and  quickening  of  sea  transporta- 
tion. Then  the  freight  charge  of  "  all  the  commodity  will  bear  " 
will  be  unknown  to  American  shippers.  Then  water  transporta- 
tion will  secure  commercial  independence  and  financial  prosperity 
to  the  grain  and  cotton  producing  States  of  the  Union.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Such,  Mr.  Chairman,  will  be  some  of  the  blessings  which  the 
American  people  will  enjoy  by  the  building  of  this  canal.  The 
progress  of  the  age  demands  it,  for  this  is  indeed  a  commercial 
age.  It  is  also,  bear  in  mind,  an  age  of  trusts  and  combines 
which  are  created  for  the  benefit  of  the  few,  and  at  the  expense  of 
the  many.  If  we  would,  therefore,  build  up  commerce,  we  must 
make  transportation  combines  impossible  by  either  land  or  sea, 
•because  it  is  part  of  the  philosopny  of  the  times,  that  there  can  be 
no  competition  against  land  transportation  companies,  except  con- 
tiguous water  routes.  God  in  His  infinite  wisdom  made  the  seas 
and  the  great  rivers  that  flow  into  them.  No  special  privilege 
can  be  acquired  to  navigate  them.  These  waters  are  like  the  air, 
free  from  private  ownership,  but  to  make  them  effective,  they 
must  be  improved.  The  routes  by  sea  must  be  shortened  when 
possible  to  do  so,  and  the  rivers  straightened  and  deepened. 
Again,  let  me  say,  water  routes  are  the  only  successful  competi- 
tors to  land  transportation,  and  by  this  means  traffic  can  be  made 
reasonable  to  the  shipper  and  yet  profitable  to  the  carrier. 

A  great  inter-oceanic  waterway,  like  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  is 
too  masterful  an  enterprise  for  individual  effort,  and  too  import- 
ant to  our  country  for  private  interest  to  hold  dominion  over, 
because  for  all  time  it  will  mark  out  the  shortest  lines  for  the 
world's  commerce  to  move  in,  and  some  nation  will  have  to  de- 
fend it  and  guard  it  against  unjust  exactions  of  private  owner- 
ship, or  against  the  ambition  of  foreign  powers.  That  nation 
must  be  the  United  States.  (Applause.) 

Why,  gentlemen.  Congress  has  this  year  appropriated  about 
twenty-one  million  dollars  to  maintain  the  rivers  and  harbors  of 
our  country.  True,  not  a  great  deal  of  it  is  to  be  expended  on 
the  Mississippi,  but  some  of  it,  and  this  is  done  to  secure  water 
navigation,  and  thus  build  up  commerce.  The  making  of  a  ship 
canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Nicaragua  would  accomplish  the  same 


i8 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


purpose  and  more,  and  the  necessity  for  its  construction  is  in- 
finitely greater,  for  it  would  shorten  the  distance,  as  we  have 
stated,  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic,  by  about  ten  thousand 
miles.  It  would  bring  New  Orleans,  at  the  mouth  of  this  great 
river,  within  thirteen^^hundred  miles  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  and 
New  York  within  two  thousand  miles.  It  would  increase 
the  trade  of  the  Pacific  with  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  con- 
tinent, because  it  would  cheapen  and  shorten  transportation, 
and  thus  make  secure  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It 
would  build  up  our  markets  with  all  Asiatic  countries.  Its 
construction  would  bring  into  our  country  the  commerce  of 
the  Pacific,  which  is  now  largely  controlled  by  Great  Britain. 
The  importance  of  this  trade  so  secured  may  be  noted  when  it 
is  known  that  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  countries  fronting  on 
the  Pacific  Ocean  is  more  than  one  thousand  million  of  dollars 
annually,  and  the  actual  annual  tonnage  from  this  vast  region, 
which  would  pass  through  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  would  exceed 
eight  millions  of  tons.  Japan  would  become  one  of  our  best 
cotton  markets.  New  life  would  be  added  to  the  shipping  in- 
terests of  New  England.  It  would  furnish  to  the  great  States 
bordering  on  the' Atlantic  seaboard,  an  incentive  for  better  invest- 
ments for  capital  and  more  remunerative  rewards  for  labor.  It 
would  enrich  the  Gulf  States,  and  in  time,  would  make  New  York, 
the  centre  of  the  monetary  exchanges  of  the  western  world,  which 
are  now  controlled  by  London,  and  it  would  Americanize  all 
America  by  making  it  commercially  independent.  (Loud  ap- 
plause.) 

Mr.  Miller,  President  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Construction  Company, 
who  had  been  invited  to  be  present  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
California  State  Convention,  was  then  requested  to  address  the  conven- 
tion, and  spoke  as  follows  : 

Mr.  President  and  Gentleinen  of  the  Convention  : 

I  am  here  to-day  in  response  to  an  invitation  from  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  which  was  appointed  at  the  State  Nicaragua  Con- 
vention of  California.  I  am  here  in  response  to  their  invitation, 
to  present  to  this  convention,  as  briefly  as  I  may,  the  history  of 
the  present  enterprise. 

The  subject  of  connecting  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans  by 
a  canal  across  Central  America  is  not  a  new  question.    It  is  as 


NICARAGUA 


CANAL 


CONVENTION. 


19 


old  as  the  discovery  of  America  itself.  When  Columbus  set 
forth  upon  his  great  voyage  of  discovery,  he  did  not  dream  of 
discovering  a  new  continent;  he  sought  only  to  discover  a  new 
passage  to  the  Orient.  Believing  that  the  world  was  round,  he 
reasoned  that  by  sailing  due  west  he  would  come  to  the  Orient. 
Columbus  was  a  disappointed  man  when  he  found  the  American 
Continent  in  his  way,  and  he  spent  the  remaining  years  of  his 
life,  and  made  a  number  of  voyages,  in  the  hope  that  he  might 
find  a  passage  through  this  new  world  which  he  had  discovered. 
Notwithstanding  the  great  work  he  accomplished,  he  died  a  dis- 
appointed man.  The  numerous  adventurous  spirits  who  followed 
after  him,  for  a  long  period  of  years',  sailed  up  and  down  the 
coast  of  North  America  and  explored  every  river,  every  bay,  and 
every  harbor  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River  down  to 
the  main  land  of  South  America,  hoping  to  find  this  long-sought- 
for  passage.  All  their  efforts  were  in  vain,  but  at  last  Balboa 
pushed  over  the  mountains  of  Central  America  and  discovered 
the  Pacific  Ocean;  and  from  that  day  down  to  the  present  time  it 
has  been  the  dream  of  the  nations  of  the  world  that  these  two 
great  oceans,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  should  be  connected. 
Perhaps  it  is  appropriate  that  this  year,  1892,  a  genuine  and 
serious  effort  should  be  made  to  bring  about  this  work  and  to 
accomplish  what  Columbus  sought.  Our  friends  in  Chicago  are 
proposing  to  celebrate  the  efforts  of  Columbus.  Why  they  are 
nearly  a  year  behind  time  I  know  not.  It  is  the  first  time  I  ever 
heard  of  Chicago  being  behind  in  anything;  but,  certainly  it  is 
most  appropriate  that  they  should  meet  here  in  force  in  this  con- 
vention to  take  part  in  inagurating  this  great  enterprise  and  car- 
rying it  to  a  successful  conclusion. 

I  shall  not  detain  you  to-day  with  any  lengthy  history  of  the 
numerous  attempts — I  should  not  say  "attempts,"  but  rather 
"propositions"  —  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien.  The  Government  of  the  United  States,  from 
the  days  of  Andrew  Jackson  down  to  the  present  administration, 
has  given  careful  attention  to  this  subject,  and  many  attempts  have 
been  made  at  negotiation  of  treaties  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
it  into  effect.  At  the  close  of  the  last  war,  Admiral  Ammen,  of 
■our  Navy,  who  had  given  this  work  a  life-study,  prevailed  on  Gen- 
<-eral  Grant,  then  President,  to  bring  the  attention  of  the  Govern- 


20 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


ment  of  the  United  States  to  this  important  enterprise,  and,  in 
response  to  a  message  from  President  Grant,  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  appropriated  a  sum  of  money  and  authorized  him 
to  send  an  expedition  down  to  the  Isthmus  to  make  careful  sur- 
veys and  report.  As  a  result  of  this  action,  a  number  of  survey- 
ing parties  were  sent  out  under  the  command  of  officers  of  the 
United  States  Navy.  A  complete  survey  was  made  of  every  pro- 
posed route  from  Tehuantepec  down  to  South  America.  The 
result  of  that  has  been  given  in  the  language  quoted  by  Mr.  Estee 
in  his  speech,  in  which  all  that  work  was  finally  summed  up  in 
the  statement  that  the  route  by  way  of  Lake  Nicaragua  presented 
fewer  difficulties  than  any  other  of  the  proposed  routes.  In  1879, 
after  this  work  had  been  completed,  Mr.  De  Lesseps,  who  had 
achieved  the  great  work  of  connecting  the  Mediterranean  with 
the  Red  Sea  by  the  Suez  Canal,  called  a  congress  in  Paris  for 
the  purpose  of  considering  this  question,  and  to  that  President 
Grant  sent  as  delegates  Admiral  Ammen  and  Mr.  Menocal,  then 
an  engineer  in  the  Navy  and  now  Chief  Engineer  of  our  company^ 
to  present  the  views  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
upon  this  question.  The  result  of  that  congress  is  well  known : 
It  decided,  unfortunately,  in  favor  of  the  Panama  route.  Our 
engineers  present  at  that  convention  protested  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  construct  a  canal  by  the  Panama  route;  that  the  time  and 
money  given  to  it  would  all  be  wasted ;  that  there  was  but  one 
proper,  feasible  route,  and  that  was  by  way  of  Nicaragua.  The 
French  Company,  however,  had  a  concession  from  the  Govern- 
ment of  Columbia  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  by  way  of 
Panama;  and  the  congress  in  Paris,  therefore,  decided  in  favor 
of  it.  If  they  had  ever  made  any  careful  survey  or  study  of  that 
great  work,  it  w,ould  never  have  been  undertaken,  because  the 
physical  difficulties  found  to  exist  there  would  have  been  dis- 
covered, by  careful  engineering,  in  advance;  all  the  money  ex- 
pended upon  it  could  have  been  saved,  and  for  one-half  the  money 
that  was  finally  expended  a  complete  and  perfect  canal  could  have 
been  constructed  by  way  of  Lake  Nicaragua.  I  remember  talk- 
ing with  General  Grant  in  regard  to  this  matter;  he,  during  the 
last  years  of  his  life,  giving  it  a  great  deal  of  thought  and  con- 
sideration; and  when  the  Panama  efforts  seemed  to  be  on  the 
high  road  to  success,  General  Grant  said  to  me,  "It  matters  not 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION.  21 

how  much  money  De  Lesseps  may  spend  upon  Panama,  he  never 
will  be  able  to  build  a  canal  there,  because  it  is  a  physical  impos- 
sibility."  Unfortunately,  General  Grant  was  right.  He  had 
passed  over  both  routes  and  studied  them,  and  gave  his  judgment 
upon  what  he  had  seen.  I  say,  it  is  a  matter  of  regret  for  the 
American  people  to-day,  for  they  honor  De  Lesseps  for  the  great 
work  which  he  accomplished  at  Suez;  they  honor  him  also  for  the 
gallant  effort  that  he  made  at  Panama;  and  they  can  only  regret 
that  he  was  misled  by  designing  men,  and  that  a  vast  amount  of 
money  was  squandered  to  no  purpose. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  best  that  I  should  give  you  something  of 
the  physical  conditions  of  the  route  by  way  of  Lake  Nicaragua, 
in  order  that  you  may  be  able  to  judge  why  it  is  a  feasible  route, 
and  also  to  give  you  briefly  an  account  of  the  engineering  work, 
the  mechanical  work  which  we  have  done  upon  this  line,  and  then 
to  come  to  the  question  of  why  the  canal  should  be  built  and  the 
benefits  to  come  from  it.  As  has  been  stated  here,  the  highest 
point  of  Nicaragua,  in  which  the  canal  takes  toward  the  ocean, 
is  150  feet  above  the  sea,  whereas,  Tehuantepec  was  over  700  feet 
at  the  highest  point,  and  not  sufficient  water  could  be  obtained  to 
operate  the  canal;  the  Panama  route  was  over  300  feet  high  at 
the  highest  point,  presenting  obstacles  which  the  engineers  were 
unable  to  cope  with.  But  the  main  reason  why  the  route  by 
Nicaragua  is  a  feasible  route  is  found  in  the  fact  that  at  the  summit 
there  lies  a  great  lake  called  Lake  Nicaragua,  which  is  about  120 
miles  in  length  and  60  miles  in  width,  and  which  is  from  30  to  150 
feet  in  depth.  This  lake  acts  as  a  great  reservoir.  It  drains 
more  than  8,000  square  miles  of  the  surrounding  territory.  It 
gives  out,  daily,  water  to  an  extent  of  ten  times  the  amount  re- 
quired for  the  operation  of  the  locks  of  the  canal  This  is  the 
key  of  the  situation.  Look  at  that  map.  There  you  will  see  that 
Lake  Nicaragua  approaches  very  closely,  on  the  west  side,  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  It  comes  actually  within  12  1-2  miles  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  The  outlet  of  this  great  lake  towards  the  east, 
the  Atlantic,  is  a  large  river  called  the  River  San  Juan.  In  1849 
Commodore  Vanderbilt  established  a  line  of  transportation  across 
Nicaragua,  by  boats  up  this  river,  and  across  the  lake  and  by 
wagon  road  to  the  Pacific.  A  great  number  of  the  people  from 
the  East  who  went  to  California  in  '49  and  those  early  days,  went 


4 


22  NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 

by  that  route.  Eight  years  ago  an  iron  steamer  was  built  in  Wil- 
mington, Delaware;  it  was  not  of  large  draft,  but  of  sufficient 
draft  to  make  it  perfectly  safe  to  navigate  there.  That  went 
down  to  Greytown,  sailed  up  the  San  Juan  River  to  Lake  Nicara- 
gua, and  for  eight  years  it  has  been  continuously  plying  on  Lake 
Nicaragua,  doing  the  entire  transportation  of  freight  and  passen- 
gers on  that  lake.  You  can  tie  up  where  the  canal  takes  out  of  the 
lake  upon  the  western  side,  and  a  man  at  the  masthead  can  look 
over  into  the  Pacific.  Does  it  not  seem  as  if  Providence  had 
almost  made  a  canal  complete?  We  have  simply  to  improve  the 
mouth  of  this  great  natural  waterway,  and  then  cut  through  into 
the  Pacific,  and  we  have  accomplished  the  work  before  us. 

A  line  by  the  San  Juan  River  across  the  lake  to  the  Pacific 
crosses  the  lowest  point  in  the  great  mountain  range  that  goes 
from  Alaska  upon  the  north  down  to  the  southernmost  point  of 
South  America.  It  is  there  that  the  land  dips  down  closest  to 
the  ocean,  and  that  is,  therefore,  the  natural  route  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  canal,  with  the  great  lake  at  the  head,  at  the  sum- 
mit level.  This  presents  no  engineering  difficulties  whatever.  It 
is  a  work  of  great  magnitude,  on  account  of  the  large  amount  of 
earth  and  rock  that  is  to  be  removed. 

The  distance  from  Greytown  upon  the  east  to  Brito  upon  the 
west  is  169.4  miles.  The  actual  canal  cutting,  outside  of  the 
river,  is  26.8  miles;  the  navigation  upon  the  lake,  river  and  in 
basins  is  142.6  miles.  The  summit  level  of  the  lake  is  106  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  This  will  be  raised  to  no  feet  by  the 
building  of  a  dam.  The  government  has  made  several  surveys 
of  this  route,  and  other  private  parties  had  surveyed  it,  at  least 
had  run  the  transit  over  it,  to  obtain  the  levels.  The  govern- 
ment's proposition  was  to  follow  the  River  San  Juan  down  to  its 
mouth.  A  look  at  that  map  will  show  that  the  lower  San  Juan 
is  a  delta  like  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi  or  the  Nile,  and  that 
delta  is  an  alluvial  deposit  which  has  been  brought  down  from  the 
mountains  during  the  past  centuries.  The  lower  San  Juan  River 
for  a  distance  of  over  forty  miles,  in  its  winding,  is  very  difficult 
of  navigation,  because  of  the  shifting  sands,  and  there  is  but 
little  depth  of  water  there.  To  build  a  canal  through  by  the 
lower  river,  at  least  to  maintain  a  canal  there,  would  be  a  very 
difficult,  if  not  an  impossible,  undertaking. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


23 


Our  company,  before  it  began  its  operations,  undertook  to  find 
■a  better  route  for  tfie  eastern  portion  of  the  canal.    The  result  is 
that  the  canal  starts  from  the  lake,  we  will  say,  and  follows  the 
River  San"  Juan  until  it  comes  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  low- 
lands at  a  place  called  Ochoa.    There,  after  very  careful  surveys, 
a  route  was  found  feasible  on  a  line  directly  to  Greytowm,  leaving 
the  lower  San  Juan,  thus  saving  more  than  25  miles  in  distance, 
and  furnishing  a  perfectly  feasible  waterway.     Look  at  that  map: 
You  will  see  that  canal  commencing  at  Greytown.     There  is  a  red 
bulb  at  the  end,  which  is  the  harbor;  the  canal  then  goes  across 
the  lowlands  a  distance  of  ten  miles;  these  ten  miles  are  simply  to 
be  excavated  by  the  usual  and  ordinary  method  of  dredging.  You 
then  come  to  the  first  lock — for,  as  I  have  stated,  the  lake  is  no 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  this  lift  or  elevation  is  made 
by  three  locks.    At  the  end  of  that  red  line  we  come  to  the  first 
lock;  the  distance  is  one  and  a  half  miles  beyond  to  the  second 
lock,  and  about  one  and  a  half  miles  beyond  that  is  the  third 
lock.     At  the  other  end  of  the  third  lock,  thirteen  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  canal  is  raised  to  the  level  of 
the  lake,  and  from  that  point  through  to  the  lake,  across  the  lake, 
and  almost  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  it  is  the  same  level,  unobstructed 
for  navigation.    Beyond  the  third  lock  the  canal  crosses  a  spur  of 
the  hills  or  mountains,  which  come  down  from  the  north.  There 
is  the  important  work,  or  rock  cut,  as  it  is  called:  the  eastern  di- 
vide cut.    This  is  two  miles  and  three-quarters  in  length,  with  an 
average  depth  of  140  feet.     This  is  a  very  important  work;  it  will 
require  more  time  than  any  other  part  of  the  canal,  or  all  of  it 
combined.     The  length  of  time  required  for  doing  it  will  be  not 
less  than  five  years;  it  can  be  done  in  that  time.  Contractors 
are  willing  to  agree  to  do  it  in  that  time.     There  are  some 
people,  not  familiar  with  the  nature  of  this  kind  of  rock  work,  who 
regard  it  as  impossible,  but  it  is  not  so  at  all,  and  there  are  any 
number  of  engineers  and  contractors  who  stand  ready  to  under- 
take it,  and  to  undertake  it  at  an  estimate  less  than  that  made  by 
the  company  itself.     There  is  no  kind  of  work  on  our  railroads 
and  other  enterprises  which  is  more  feasible  than  rock  cutting;  it 
is  known  precisely  what  it  will  cost  to  take  it  out.    When  the  ex- 
cavation has  been  made,  there  is  no  danger  of  land  slides  as  is  com- 
mon in  earth  work.     There  was  the  great  difticulty  with  the 


24 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


Panama  Canal.  As  fast  as  the  earth  was  taken  out  of  the  excava- 
tion other  earth  slid  in  from  above  and  partially  filled  it  up,  mak- 
ing satisfactory  progress  impossible.  A  very  large  part  of  the 
rock  which  will  be  taken  out  of  this  rock  cut  is  needed  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  canal.  At  Greytown  there  is  a  natural  harbor 
which  has  existed  since  the  country  has  been  known,  but  unfortu- 
nately for  the  last  twenty-five  years  it  has  been  closed  by  a  bar. 
Of  course,  the  first  work  of  the  company  is  to  open  that  harbor  by 
the  removal  of  this  bar.  That  work  has  been  going  on  success- 
fully during  the  past  year  and  a  half.  The  process  of  opening 
this  harbor  is  the  building  of  jetties  or  a  breakwater  across  the  bar 
and  out  to  deep  water  at  sea.  These  jetties  and  breakwater  are 
built  of  rock  taken  out  of  this  cut.  The  rock  is  brought  down  by 
rail  and  put  upon  the  breakwater,  which  is  constructed  upon  pre- 
cisely the  same  plan  as  is  now  being  used  at  Galveston,  Texas, 
and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  where  the  work  has  been 
already  completed  for  four  or  five  miles  in  length  and  has  greatly 
improved  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  making  a  permanent  depth 
of  28  feet  of  water  at  that  place.  There  is  nothing  new  or  doubt- 
ful about  this  construction.  The  company  has  constructed  this 
breakwater  out  only  a  distance  of  1,000  feet,  but  it  so  far  has 
given,  without  dredging,  a  depth  of  six  feet,  which  has  been  deep- 
ened so  that  vessels  of  ten  feet  draught  are  able  to  come  in.  This 
breakwater  is  to  be  constructed  to  the  distance  of  5,000  feet,  or  a 
mile.  The  bar  will  be  removed  by  dredging,  and  a  depth  of  30 
feet  maintained.  Some  dredging  will  have  to  be  done  in  the  har- 
bor in  order  to  make  a  minimum  depth  of  30 feet;  for  the  intention 
is  to  have  a  minimum  depth  of  30  feet  everywhere  in  the  canal, 
so  that  the  largest  vessels  afloat  may  be  able  to  use  it. 

Beyond  this  rock  cut  there  are  some  embankments  to  be  built 
to  close  the  basin;  there  is  but  little  excavation  to  be  done. 

At  a  point  named  Ochoa  there  is  to  be  constructed  a  dam 
which  will  raise  the  San  Juan  River  to  the  level  of  Lake  Nicaragua, 
giving  free,  unobstructed  navigation  from  that  point.  This  dam 
also  is  to  be  built  out  of  rock  taken  out  of  the  rock  cut.  It  is  an 
important  piece  of  work,  and  is  to  be  1,200  feet  in  length  and  65 
feet  in  height.  It  is  not  as  large  as  many  other  dams  that  have 
been  built  and  are  now  in  existence,  and  have  been  for  a  long 
time.    There  is  one  in  existence  right  above  New  York  at  Croton, 


NICARAGUA  CANAL 


CONVENTION. 


from  where  the  water  supply  for  that  city  comes.  That  dam  is 
larger  than  this.  Another  dam  is  now  being  constructed,  which 
will,  however,  be  very  much  larger  than  this  one.  There  is  no 
especial  problem  in  building  the  dam  or  in  its  maintenance.  The 
River  San  Juan  is  from  500  to  1,000  feet  in  width,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  rivers  in  the  world.  There  are  two  rapids  in  it,  where 
some  excavation  will  have  to  be  done.  This  dam  will  raise  the 
river  and  drown  out  the  rapids  to  a  depth  of  about  20  feet,  and  in 
order  to  give  a  free,  deep  and  unobstructed  waterway,  there  will 
be  excavation  of  some  rock  under  the  water  at  two  of  the  rapids. 
This  work  is  well  understood  and  is  of  a  class  constantly  being 
practiced  in  all  parts  of  our  country.  The  river  is  large  enough 
for  vessels  to  pass  each  other  at  full  speed;  therefore  there  will  be 
no  detention. 

When  we  reach  Lake  Nicaragua  at  the  point  where  the  river 
takes  out  from  it,  some  dredging  has  to  be  done  to  give  the  depth 
of  30  feet  of  water,  for  during  the  past  ages  sediment  has  collected 
there.  This  sediment  can  easily  be  removed  with  modern  dredg" 
ing  machinery.  Then  we  have  an  unobstructed  sailing  line  across 
the  lake,  fifty-six  and  a  half  miles. 

We  come  now  to  the  western  shore  of  the  lake.  The  canal  there 
passes  out  of  the  lake  at  a  point  where  the  height  of  the  land  is 
the  lowest,  as  I  have  stated,  in  the  mountain  range  from  Alaska 
down  to  the  southernmost  point  of  South  America.  The  high- 
est point  of  land  there  above  the  lake  is  only  41  feet.  The 
average  height  of  it,  for  five  miles,  midway  the  cut,  is  only  20 
feet.  The  canal  is  cut  from  the  lake,  a  distance  of  five  and  a- 
half  miles,  when  it  comes  to  a  great  natural  basin  or  lake  called 
the  Tola  basin,  which  covers  several  thousand  acres  of  land  and 
is  from  30  to  50  feet  in  depth.  It  is  enclosed,  in  addition,  at  the 
western  side,  by  three  locks  which  bring  the  canal  down  to  the 
level  of  the  Pacific  at  Brito,  at  a  point  where  a  harbor  has  to  be 
constructed  similar  to  that  at  Greytown.  There  is  now  six  feet 
of  water  on  the  bar,  and  there  is  a  natural  headlaud  or  mountain 
which  runs  down  into  the  sea,  a  distance  of  more  than  a  mile. 
Parallel,  to  the  south  of  that  headland,  we  build  a  breakwater, 
and  then  dredge  the  harbor  to  a  general  depth  of  30  feet. 

As  I  have  said,  there  are  six  locks,  three  on  each  side.  There 
has  been  an  objection  in  the  minds  of  people  generally  against 


26 


NICARAGUA 


CANAL 


CONVENTION. 


locks  in  ship  canals;  and  there  is  undoubtedly  often  great  oppo- 
sition to  them.  De  Lesseps,  at  Panama,  gave  as  his  reason  for 
going  there  that  he  must  have  a  sea  level  canal  without  locks. 
But  before  he  had  expended  more  than  half  of  his  money  at 
Panama,  he  discovered  that  a  sea  level  canal  was  absolutely  im- 
possible, and  then  the  plans  of  his  canal  were  changed  to  a  lock 
canal.  The  summit  level  would  have  been  some  50  feet  higher 
than  that  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  When  the  plans  were  changed 
to  a  lock  canal  on  the  Panama  line,  there  was  no  water  at  the 
summit  to  supply  the  locks  with  water,  and  it  would  have  been  a 
■dry  canal  if  it  had  ever  been  built.  They  proposed  to  create  a 
lake  at  the  summit  by  building  a  dam  between  two  great  moun- 
tains, and  thus  inclosing  the  water,  but  measurements  showed  it 
would  not  contain  water  enough  to  run  the  canal  during  the  dry 
season  and  with  their  ingenuity,  which  was  equal  to  that  of  any 
cute  Yankee  from  the  East,  they  proposed  to  put  up  a  pumping 
station  and  pump  water  for  the  service.  Just  what  size  of  canal 
they  would  have  had  by  pumping  water  to  run  ships  from  Panama 
to  Colon  I  will  leave  you  to  judge  for  yourselves. 

These  locks  which  are  to  be  built  are  not  novel;  in  fact,  there 
is  nothing  new  in  this  scheme  at  all;  it  is  simply  the  application 
of  well-known  principles  and  the  execution  of  works,  the  like  of 
which  have  already  been  executed  in  the  world.  Our  locks  are 
substantially  of  the  same  size  as  the  government  lock  at  the  Sault 
Ste.  Marie,  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior  into  Lake  Huron.  Ten 
years  ago  the  Government  of  the  United  States  completed  a  great 
lock  there,  650  in  length  and  75  in  width,  large  enough  to  take 
the  largest  vessel  afloat  upon  the  lakes;  in  fact,  sometimes  pass- 
ing three  or  four  ships  at  a  time.  They  are  now  building  at 
Sault  Ste.  Marie  another  lock  to  be  800  feet  in  length,  and  from 
150  to  100  feet  in  width,  because  the  commerce  at  the  lake  is  in- 
creasing so  rapidly.  Yet  the  lock  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  passed 
last  year  over  nine  millions  of  tons  of  shipping,  more  by  one- 
third  than  passed  through  the  Suez  Canal  in  1890.  This  year 
the  demands  of  commerce  will  be  increased,  so  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  hastening  the  building  of  another 
lock  of  the  dimensions  I  have  mentioned.  In  addition  to  this, 
other  great  works  in  the  world  with  locks  have  been  built  since 
ithe  lock  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  has  been  constructed. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


27- 


Locks  of  similar  size  have  been  built  in  Europe  and  are  now 
in  operation.  Last  Summer  I  visited  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal;, 
about  half  of  it  was  finished  and  that  half  is  in  operation  to-day.. 
Just  one  word  about  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal  while  we  are  pass- 
ing: Manchester  lies  inland,  with  a  great  population,  thirty-five- 
miles  from  Liverpool.  The  people  of  Manchester  desired  to  have 
a  port  themselves,  and  they  have  been  for  a  number  of  years  con- 
structing a  great  canal  from  Liverpool  to  Manchester,  a  distance 
of  thirty-five  miles,  so  large  that  the  largest  ships  can  steam  up 
the  canal  to  the  city  of  Manchester  and  unload  at  their  wharves 
there.  That  work  will  have  cost  when  completed  over  sixty  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  They  are  expending  that  money  simply  for  the- 
commerce  of  one  city — a  city  not  more  important  than  St.  Louis. 
(Applause.)  Then  I  went  over  to  Holland,  to  visit  and  study 
the  canal  system,  and  especially  the  great  Amsterdam  Canal  now 
being  built.  Amsterdam  for  a  long  time  had  been  a  great  ship- 
ping port,  but  it  was  in  the  days  of  vessels  of  small  draft;  and 
when  large  steamers  came  to  be  built  they  could  no  longer  get 
up  to  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  so  that  city  called  to  its  aid  great 
engineers  and  proceeded  to  build  a  great  ship  canal,  so  that  the 
larger  vessels  may  come  up  to  the  city.  There  they  have  locks 
of  different  dimensions.  Thence  1  went  to  Germany,  because 
there  they  are  building  a  great  ship  canal  also.  The  world  knows 
little  about  it,  because  it  is  being  built  entirely  by  the  German 
Government,  and  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  protection  in  war. 
Those  of  you  who  recall  your  early  lessons  in  geography  will  re- 
member that  a  peninsula  runs  up  from  the  northwestern  part  of 
Germany,  and  that  at  the  upper  end  of  that  peninsula  is  the 
little  kingdom  of  Denmark.  The  German  Empire  didn't  want 
that  peninsula,  situated  as  it  was,  to  belong  to  another  power, 
and  it  took  Schleswig-Holstein  and  incorporated  it  in  its  own 
borders,  leaving  Denmark  at  the  upper  end.  The  sailing  distance 
around  this  peninsula,  from  one  side  to  the  other,  is  nearly  700 
miles.  The  distance  across,  where  it  connects  with  the  main, 
land,  is  63  miles.  The  home  station  of  the  German  Navy  is  at 
Kiel.  Upon  the  western  side  of  this  peninsula  is  the  mouth  of 
the  Elbe.  The  German  Government  is  building  a  great  ship  canal 
across  it,  large  enough  to  carry  through  it  the  largest  men-of  -war 
that  the  German  Navy  has.    It  will  cost  about  sixty  millions 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


of  dollars,  or  nearly  as  much  as  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  It  is  being 
built  to  escape  sailing  round  this  peninsula,  a  distance  of  700  miles 
simply.  Still  the  German  people  think  that  it  is  worthy  of  their 
•consideration  and  worthy  of  that  vast  expenditure  of  money. 
This  canal  also  has  great  locks,  as  large  as  the  locks  which  we 
propose  to  build  in  this  canal.  I  am  speaking  of  these  things, 
because  it  goes  to  show  that  this  great  work  at  Nicaragua  con- 
tains no  unsolved  problems;  that  the  money  spent  upon  it  will 
not  be  wasted,  as  the  money  spent  upon  the  Panama  Canal  was 
wasted. 

I  come  now  to  tell  you  what  our  company  has  done  in  the  way 
■of  solving  this  problem,  and  in  determining  accurately  about  this 
work  everything  that  is  possible  to  be  known.  In  the  first  place, 
as  has  been  said,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  made 
several  surveys  of  this  route;  they  were  not  surveys  in  detail;  they 
were  largely  devoted  to  determining  the  depth  of  water  in  the 
river  and  the  depth  in  the  lake,  and  running  levels  across  to  see 
what  the  height  was  and  the  amount  of  material  to  be  removed. 
They  were  not  final  surveys;  they  were  what  is  known  as  prelimi- 
nary surveys.  Before  telling  what  the  company  has  done,  per- 
haps I  may,  at  this  point,  give  you  a  brief  history  of  its  organiza- 
tion. 

During  the  administration  of  President  Arthur,  Secretary  Fre- 
linghuysen  negotiated  a  treaty  with  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua, 
under  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  to  build 
this  canal  and  own  it  forever,  and  to  maintain  it  and  protect  it. 
The  treaty  came  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  while  I  was 
a  member  of  it;  it  was  not  ratified.  Senator  Bayard  became  Sec- 
retary of  State  and  the  treaty  was  not  sent  back  to  the  Senate  for 
reasons  of  his  own.  Of  course,  the  matter  fell  through.  Imme- 
diately after  that.  Admiral  Ammen  and  a  number  of  other  officers 
of  the  United  States  Navy,  who  had  studied  this  question  care- 
fully, went  to  the  city  of  New  York  and  induced  a  number  of  pri- 
vate gentlemen  to  organize  an  association,  to  put  up  an  amount  of 
money  to  secure  from  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  a  concession 
for  the  construction  of  the  canal.  As  a  result,  agents  were  sent 
to  Nicaragua  and  a  concession  was  obtained  from  the  Government 
■of  Nicaragua  and  also  from  Costa  Rica,  because  this  canal  touches 
Costa  Rican  territory,  the  San  Juan  River  being  in  some  parts  the 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


29 


boundary  line  between  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua.  Those  con- 
cessions were  obtained,  giving  this  company  the  right  to  build  and 
maintain  a  canal  across  that  territory  exclusively,  for  a  period  of 
198  years.  Immediately  after  that  the  gentlemen  who  obtained 
those  concessions  from  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica  organized  what 
is  known  as  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Construction  Company,  of 
which  I  am  President.  These  gentlemen — before  I  had  anything 
to  do  with  it — then  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  ought  to 
have  a  charter  from  the  United  States  Government,  and  they 
petitioned  Congress  to  grant  a  special  charter  to  incorporate  a 
company  for  the  purpose  of  building  and  operating  this  canal. 
Without  going  into  details,  I  will  simply  say  that  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  passed  a  special  Act  and  it  was  signed  by  Presi- 
dent Cleveland,  chartering  what  is  known  as  The  Maritime  Canal 
Company  of  Nicaragua,  giving  it  the  right  to  take  these  conces- 
sions from  the  former  company,  to  issue  bonds  and  stock  and  to 
do  and  perform  all  acts  which  belong  to  any  chartered  corpora- 
tion. The  company  which  had  procured  the  rights  from  Nicaragua 
and  Costa  Rica  then  assigned  them  to  the  Maritime  Canal  Com- 
pany. The  Construction  Company  entered  into  a  contract  to 
build  and  construct  this  canal  and  turn  it  over  completed  to  them, 
under  the  conditions  which  were  affixed  to  the  contract.  This 
company,  before  making  any  appeal  for  funds,  decided  that  it 
would  make  the  most  full  and  careful  surveys  of  the  entire  country, 
and  that  it  would  expend  several  millions  of  dollars  upon  the  work 
before  calling  upon  the  public,  because  they  realized  that  the 
failure  of  the  Panama  Canal  led  people  to  reason  that  a  failure 
might  also  come  at  Nicaragua;  and  that  unless  they  could  make 
surveys  and  make  such  demonstrations  upon  this  work  as  would 
prove  conclusively  it  was  feasible,  it  would  be  impossible  to  secure 
capital  from  the  world  at  large,  or  from  our  people,  until  that 
thing  had  been  done.  The  first  thing,  then,  the  company  did  was 
to  send  out  a  corps  of  engineers.  Some  forty-five  engineers  and 
their  assistants  were  sent  out,  and  a  large  force  of  natives 
employed.  For  nearly  two  years  this  force  was  kept  constantly 
at  work  upon  this  line,  examining  the  entire  country  for  the  pro- 
curing of  the  best  route  for  the  proposed  canal,  making  what  they 
call  thorough,  final  surveys  of  the  location.  They  ran  over  4,000 
miles  of  line  with  the  theodolite  through  the  forests  of  Nicaragua; 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


and  I  undertake  to  say  that  the  plans  of  our  company  to-day^ 
upon  paper,  which  have  been  accurately  made  by  a  competent 
corps  of  engineers,  are  the  most  accurate  that  were  ever  made  of 
any  great  public  work  accomplished  in  the  world,  whether  it  be 
railroads  or  canals.  (Applause.)  They  expended  upon  this  part 
of  the  work  alone  nearly  $500,000  and  nearly  two  years  of  time. 
When  this  work  was  completed  the  plans  and  surveys  w^ere  brought 
to  New  York  and  a  Board  of  consulting  engineers  was  called.  This 
Board  consisted  of  Mr.  John  Bogart,  State  Engineer  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  as  Chairman,  and  four  other  distinguished  engineers. 
The  work  of  our  engineers  was  placed  before  this  Board,  and  they 
went  over  it  in  order  to  determine  whether  the  plans  were  feasible, 
and  whether  the  estimates  that  were  made  of  the  cost  were  within 
bounds.  The  result  of  that  was  that  they  added  somewhat  to  the 
cost  of  the  canal,  because  they  added  a  much  larger  contingent 
fund  as  a  factor  of  safety  for  the  building  of  the  great  work;  they 
said  they  saw  no  reason  why  it  could  not  be  accomplished  at  the 
figures  we  had  named,  which  were  $65,000,000,  but  they  deemed 
it  prudent  that  a  larger  factor  of  safety  should  be  added  for  unex- 
pected difficulties  in  construction,  or  delays  in  construction;  so 
they  added  something  like  twenty  per  cent,  to  the  estimates,  thus 
carrying  the  cost  up  to  about  $87,000,000.  I  have  always  said 
that  the  work,  if  it  could  be  carried  on  promptly  and  money 
obtained  as  fast  as  needed,  would  be  completed  for  less  than 
$100,000,000;  and  that  sum  would  include  interest  upon  money 
during  the  process  of  construction;  for  I  need  not  say  to  the 
business  men  before  me  that  the  interest  upon  the  money  during 
the  process  of  construction  is  a  legitimate  charge  upon  the  cost  of 
actual  construction.  These  plans  have  also  been  submitted  tO' 
some  of  our  leading  engineers  and  pronounced  feasible;  they  have 
also  been  presented  to  leading  engineers  in  England,  like  Sir 
John  Coode,  who  went  over  the  plans  carefully,  as  to  their  feasi- 
bility, including  the  plans  for  harbors  and  all  other  work,  and  gave 
it  as  his  opinion  that  they  were  entirely  feasible. 

So  the  company  has  come  to  the  point  where  they  feel  justi- 
fied in  saying  to  the  world  unequivocally  that  they  have  plans 
developed,  studied  out  in  all  their  details,  which  will  enable  the 
company  to  build  and  complete  a  successful  maritime  canal 
through  which  the  largest  vessels  afloat  to-day  will  be  able  to 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


31 


pass  from  ocean  to  ocean ;  that  it  can  be  constructed  at  a  reason- 
able cost;  that  it  can  be  maintained  for  a  reasonable  sum  from 
year  to  year,  and  that  it  can  be  done  within  a  reasonable  time, 
that  reasonable  time  being  five  years  from  now,  provided  we  get 
money  fast  enough  to  enable  us  to  carry  the  work  on  without  any 
detention.  Now  this  company,  as  has  been  stated,  has  expended 
up  to  the  present  time  all  that  has  been  spent;  it  has  expended 
$5,000,000.    What  has  it  done  ? 

Firstly:  It  has  completed  these  surveys. 

Secondly:  It  has  erected  at  Greytown  headquarters  consisting 
of  over  fifty  buildings,  well  built  of  timber  and  covered  with  gal- 
vanized iron.  There  are  large  barracks  for  the  men;  there  is  a 
large  hospital  for  the  sick ;  there  are  headquarters  for  our  officers 
and  engineers,  storehouses,  warehouses,  and  large  machine  shops 
fitted  with  the  best  modern  machinery,  in  which  we  can  do  repair 
work  upon  our  engines  and  dredging  machines.  In  addition  to 
that  we  have  opened  a  harbor  at  Greytown,  having  obtained  a 
depth  of  fourteen  feet  of  water  upon  the  bar,  confirming  us  in  our 
opinion  that  when  the  breakwater  shall  have  been  completed  for 
a  distance  of  5,000  feet,  we  shall  have  a  depth  of  30  feet  at 
the  bar.  In  addition  to  that,  we  have  cleared  the  right  of  way  of 
timber  for  some  ten  miles.  We  have  assembled  one  of  the  largest 
dredging  plants  that  has  ever  been  collected.  We  bought  from 
the  American  Contracting  and  Dredging  Company  the  dredge 
plant  which  did  the  only  effective  work  at  Panama,  and  removed 
it  up  to  Greytown,  and  it  is  working  on  the  main  line  of  the  canal. 
We  have  5,000  acres  cleared,  ready  for  the  dredges.  We  have 
improved  the  harbor  at  Greytown  so  that  vessels  of  two  thousand 
tons  can  come  up  to  the  landing;  we  have  two  large  dredges 
doing  the  most  effective  dredging.  We  have  opened  up  about 
one  mile  of  the  canal  proper  from  the  west  side  of  Greytown  har- 
bor with  seventeen  feet  of  water;  this  depth  will  afterwards  be 
carried  down  to  a  depth  of  thirty  feet.  We  found  the  material 
upon  the  first  ten  miles  to  be  simply  sand  and  clay,  material 
easily  handled  by  our  dredges.  In  the  investigations  made  by 
our  engineers,  we  have  taken  borings  of  the  rock  cuttings  over  the 
entire  line  down  to  the  depth  of  the  bottom  of  the  canal,  at  dis- 
tances of  a  thousand  feet  apart ;  we  have  taken  out  cores  of  rock 
so  that  we  can  show  them  to  the  contractors  and  inform  them 


32 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


precisely  what  kind  of  material  they  will  have  to  deal  with.  Upon 
the  west  side,  the  surveys  have  been  completed,  the  right  of  way 
has  been  cleared  from  the  lake  down  to  the  Tola  basin.  That 
portion  of  the  country  over  there  is  largely  settled  and  occupied 
by  people  of  Nicaragua.  Land  has  been  surveyed  and  set  apart 
by  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  for  our  purpose.  In  short,  we 
have  made  a  great  organization  at  Greytown  and  we  have  every- 
thing in  complete  order,  so  that  we  could  within  a  short  time  put 
five  or  ten  thousand  men  at  work  upon  the  line  of  the  canal 
economically,  and  thus  prosecute  the  work  with  great  rapidity. 
You  must  understand  that  in  a  work  like  this  in  Central  America, 
a  tropical  country,  much  has  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  organiza- 
tion and  preparation.  In  the  first  place,  when  our  people  landed 
there,  they  landed  upon  the  beach  without  any  protection  from 
the  burning  sun ;  they  carried  with  them  houses  sent  from  New 
York,  ready  to  be  put  up,  so  that  soon  they  were  all  cared  for. 
Next,  we  have  a  complete,  perfect  hospital  in  every  respect. 
We  have  a  hospital  record  of  every  man  who  has  been  in  it  from 
the  time  it  was  established  to  the  present  time. 

At  this  point  I  may  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  health- 
fulness  of  the  climate  of  Nicaragua.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that 
the  laboring  men  at  Panama  died  by  thousands,  and  one  would 
suppose  that  the  condition  of  health  would  be  no  better  at  Grey- 
town,  Nicaragua,  than  at  Panama;  but  the  fact  is,  Nicaragua  is 
the  most  healthful  portion  of  Central  America;  and  the  statistics 
which  we  have  gathered  prove  that  laboring  men  from  the  North 
or  West  can  go  there  with  as  great  certainty  of  maintaining  their 
health  as  they  can  upon  any  public  work  at  home.  The  differ- 
ence between  Panama  and  Greytown,  and  the  reason  of  their 
difference  is  found  in  this:  Panama  lies  at  the  end  of  a  great 
land-locked  bay,  so  to  speak ;  a  vessel  approaching  Panama  has 
to  be  towed  for  nearly  loo  miles;  no  trade-winds  blow  there.  At 
Greytown  the  trade-winds  blow  continuously  from  one  point  to 
another.  The  result  is,  if  there  were  a  tendency  to  malaria  in  the 
air  because  of  decomposing  tropical  vegetation,  it  would  be  dis- 
sipated, blown  away.  As  I  have  said,  the  route  of  the  canal  lies 
through  the  lowest  point  in  the  great  mountain  range;  it  is  a  sort 
of  funnel  through  which  we  get  continuous  winds.  As  a  result, 
of  some  two  huudred  of  our  men  from  the  North,  engineers,  skilled 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


33 


mechanics,  workmen  who  have  been  at  work  for  the  company  for 
the  past  three  years,  not  a  single  one  has  died  from  any  disease 
incident  to  the  country.  Four  or  five  have  been  killed  by  acci- 
dents ;  others  have  died  from  pulmonary  diseases  they  carried  with 
them  and  from  which  they  might  have  died  eventually,  wherever 
they  were. 

We  have  built  a  railroad  along  the  line  and  completed  it  for  a 
distance  of  eleven  miles.  The  building  of  that  railroad  was  a 
great  undertaking,  for  it  went  through  a  swamp  in  which  the 
water  was  three  to  four  feet  deep.  The  laborers  employed  upon 
that  were  mainly  Jamaican  negroes.  There  were  i,6oo  men  at 
work  upon  it  for  four  months.  The  hospital  record  shows  that 
out  of  that  1, 600  men,  during  the  four  months,  only  two  of  them 
died.  I  don't  think  that  any  better  record  than  that  can  be  shown 
upon  any  railroad  construction  in  the  United  States.  I  speak  of 
this  in  order  to  show  that  we  have  a  climate  there  in  which 
Northern  people  can  labor;  in  which  the  main  part  of  the  work  is 
open  to  the  sea  from  the  west,  and  where  laborers  can  live  as 
comfortably  as  in  their  own  homes.  Therefore,  the  cost  of  the 
construction  of  the  canal  is  not  likely  to  be  largely  increased  on 
account  of  climatic  influences. 

Now  as  to  the  financial  question.  As  I  have  told  you,  we 
made  certain  estimates,  and  the  work,  so  far  as  we  have  carried 
it  on,  has  been  done  at  a  less  cost  than  our  own  estimates.  The 
excavation  of  this  great  rock  cut  between  the  east  and  west  sides, 
calls  in  our  estimate  for  a  charge  of  $1.50  per  cubic  yard.  I  want 
to  say  to  the  men  before  me  that  this  is  a  most  liberal  estimate. 
I  have  had  several  contractors,  men  of  importance,  men  of  wealth, 
who  are  able  to  carry  through  any  work  they  undertake,  tell  me 
they  were  ready  to  contract  to  take  out  that  rock  at  a  dollar  a 
yard,  where  our  estimates  were  one  dollar  and  a  half.  The 
dredging  we  have  estimated  at  twenty  to  thirty  cents  a  yard  ;  we 
have  reason  to  believe  it  will  be  less  than  twenty  cents.  While 
these  figures  may  not  hold  through  the  whole  work,  we  believe 
our  original  estimates  are  most  liberal,  and  if  the  money  can  be 
obtained  for  this  great  work  as  needed,  to  keep  the  work  being 
pushed  in  order  that  it  may  be  economically  done,  the  estimates 
we  have  made  will  not  be  exceeded. 

I  don't  know  that  anything  more  need  be  said  in  regard  to  the 


34 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


physical  condition  of  this  work.  It  simply  comes  down  to  this: 
that  here  is  a  route  which  has  been  examined  by  a  number  of 
leading  engineers,  the  most  capable  men  in  the  country;  it  has 
been  gone  over  by  many  of  the  leading  engineers  in  other 
countries,  and  the  uniform  testimony  is,  that  here  is  a  natural 
route  for  a  canal  ;  that  nature  has  nearly  completed  a  water 
transit  at  this  point,  and  that  the  part  remaining  to  be  done  can 
be  done  without  difficulty,  within  the  estimates  made  for  it  and  in 
a  fair  time.  Now  the  question  to  be  solved  is  simply:  "Where 
shall  the  money  come  from  to  carry  on  this  great  work,  the 
present  company  having  expended  five  millions  of  dollars,  which 
has  been  obtained  entirely  by  private  subscriptions.  We  think 
the  work  has  been  brought  to  a  point  where  it  is  entitled  to  appeal 
to  the  American  people  for  support.  (Applause.) 

So  during  the  past  two  years  that  I  have  been  President  of  it, 
I  have  been  looking  after  the  actual  operation  of  the  company,  1 
have  visited  Nicaragua  and  walked  over  the  route,  seen  every  part 
of  it  in  order  to  satisfy  myself  in  regard  to  it,  and  feel  now  that 
we  have  come  to  a  point  where  we  are  entitled  to  say  to  the 
American  people  that  this  is  a  feasible  work.  I  hold,  therefore, 
that  it  should  have  the  support  of  our  people.  But  later  on,  I 
may  speak  more  of  that.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  now 
briefly,  and  only  briefly,  to  the  subject  from  a  national  point  of 
view.  I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the  principal 
benefits  to  be  derived  from  the  completion  of  this  work. 

Here  we  have  a  map  of  the  world;  it  is  Mercator's  projection 
of  the  world.  It  has  been  made  from  a  map  belonging  to  the 
Navy  Department  of  the  United  States.  Here  at  the  southernmost 
point  of  South  America  you  will  see  Cape  Horn.  It  is  a  number 
of  degrees  farther  south  than  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  sailing  line 
from  the  west  coast  of  the  United  States  around  to  the  east  coast  of 
the  United  States,  or  Liverpool,  compels  vessels  going  there  to  go 
a  little  farther  to  the  south,  therefore  making  the  sailing  line  some- 
what longer.  I  don't  suppose  any  one  in  the  world  to-day  would 
propose  the  closing  up  of  the  Suez  Canal,  or  would  undertake  to 
say  that  it  is  not  one  of  the  greatest  works  in  the  world,  or  one  of 
the  most  important  works  at  present  completed  for  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  Now  let  us  look  briefly  at  what  the  Suez  Canal  has 
accomplished.     Look  at  that  map  and  you  will  see  the  line  of  the 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


35 


Suez  Canal  connecting  the  Mediterranean  with  the  Red  Sea.  The 
distance  saved  from  Liverpool  to  Bombay  or  Calcutta,  by  the 
Suez  Canal — I  take  these  points,  because  the  commerce  of  England 
through  that  canal  is  greater  than  that  of  all  other  nations  combined 
— the  distance  saved  from  Liverpool  to  Bombay  or  Calcutta  by  the 
Suez  Canal  over  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  route  is  only  3,600  miles. 
The  vessels  which  go  through  the  Suez  Canal  pay  a  toll  of  two 
dollars  per  ton  for  making  a  saving  of  only  3,600  miles.  The 
distances  from  San  Francisco  around  Cape  Horn  to  New  York  and 
Liverpool  are  almost  equal.  You  will  see  they  are  the  same  sail- 
ing lines  until  they  come  to  this  point  where  one  end  of  the  "  Y  " 
leads  to  New  York  and  the  other  to  Liverpool.  Around  the  Horn 
the  distance  from  New  York  or  Liverpool  to  San  Francisco  is 
15,600  miles  in  a  sailing  line  ;  by  the  Nicaragua  Canal  the  distance 
from  San  Francisco  to  New  York  is  only  4,900  miles,  a  saving  of 
•over  10,000  miles,  or  a  saving  three  times  as  great  as  that  made 
by  the  Suez  Canal  between  Liverpool  and  Bombay.  The  distance 
between  Yokohama  and  New  York  saved  by  this  canal  is  nearly 
7,000  miles.  When  this  canal  is  constructed,  Japan  with  its 
40,000,000  of  people  will  be  2,700  miles  nearer  to  New  York  City, 
and  3,500  miles  nearer  to  New  Orleans  or  Galveston,  than  it  is  to 
Liverpool  through  the  Suez  Canal  to-day.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  a  large  portion  of  the  comm.erce  of  Japan  and  Corea — where 
there  are  millions  of  people  requiring  the  natural  products  of  this 
country — is  bound  to  come  into  this  country  through  the  Gulf 
ports;  vessels  are  not  going  to  sail  a  thousand  miles  farther  to 
New  York.  Judge  Estee  intimated  that  the  people  in  the 
great  Mississippi  Valley  were  interested  in  this  great  enterprise 
chiefly  because  they  were  patriots;  that  whatever  benefited  the 
Atlantic  coast  would  benefit  the  Pacific  coast  and  indirectly 
l)enefit  the  people  of  the  whole  country.  That  is  one  way  of 
looking  at  it;  but  there  is  another  way  of  looking  at  it:  That  is 
that  the  people  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  all  the  country 
naturally  connected  with  it,  are  to  be  benefited  by  the  building  of 
a  canal  just  as  much  as  the  Atlantic  coast  is,  and  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  as  much  as  the  Pacific  coast.  These  railroads  which  run 
north  and  south  to  the  Gulf  ports,  have  not  been  as  profitable 
heretofore  as  railroads  which  run  east  and  west  and  which  take  to 
^ew  York,  Boston    and    other   points    products   for  shipping 


36 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


to  Europe.  Build  the  Nicaragua  Canal  and  the  Mississippi  will' 
have  two  mouths,  one  opening  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the- 
other  opening  into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  (Applause.)  If  the 
Mississippi  Valley  does  not  get  any  benefit  out  of  that,  it  will  be 
because  the  people  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  have  lost  their 
cunning. 

But  I  do  not  propose  to  take  up  your  time,  when  I  know  that 
some  kind  of  entertainment  is  awaiting  you,  according  to  the 
invitation  that  has  been  given.  (Cries  of  "Go  on").  You  have 
heard  a  long  statement  of  the  benefits  that  are  to  come  from  this 
great  work.  Mr.  Estee,  it  seems  to  me,  was  altogether  too  mod- 
est in  his  speech  in  regard  to  the  great  benefits  that  are  to  come 
to  the  people  of  the  Pacific  slope  by  the  opening  of  this  canal.  I 
have  been  repeatedly  upon  that  coast.  I  have  been  to  Seattle 
and  Tacoma  and  down  the  coast  several  times,  and  at  every  visit  I 
have  been  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  fact  that  it  is  to  be 
the  seat  of  a  great  population,  of  a  great  empire.  It  has  over 
five  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  and  when  irrigation  is  pro- 
perly put  into  operation  in  California,  Oregon  and  Washington 
(though  the  latter  State  hardly  needs  irrigating),  that  country,  in 
my  judgment,  will  be  capable  of  maintaining  in  affluence  a  larger 
population  than  occupies  the  entire  United  States  to-day. 
(Applause.)  A  gentleman  in  Washington  engaged  in  the  wheat, 
trade,  who  has  made  it  a  study  for  years,  told  me  that  in  his 
judgment  the  State  of  Washington,  when  put  under  thorough  culti- 
vation, would  produce  over  100,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  annually. 
But  the  wheat  crop  of  Washington  and  Oregon,  while  very  valuable 
to  the  people  of  those  States,  would  be  far  more  valuable  if  they 
could  put  it  into  market  and  obtain  a  fair  price  for  it.  For  centuries- 
there  has  been  growing  upon  the  western  shores  of  Washington  and 
Oregon  a  great  product  of  timber.  To-day,  that  product  is- 
worth,  they  tell  me,  from  25  cents  to  $1.25  per  thousand  on  the 
stump,  depending  upon  whether  it  is  near  water  and  can  be  easily 
used;  if  not  it  is  not  worth  anything.  What  would  we  think  of  it 
here,  or  if  we  had  it  in  Wisconsin,  or  Michigan,  or  in  New  York, 
or  in  Maine  to  cut  over  ?  Why,  to-day,  if  you  build  a  great 
wooden  ship  in  Maine,  you  can  no  longer  cut  the  spars  and  masts 
for  it  out  of  the  forests  of  Maine;  they  are  cut  in  Puget  Sound 
and  carried  round  the  Horn  by  sailing  vessels.    If  you  add 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


37 


25  cents  a  thousand  to  the  value  of  the  timber  in  those  three 
States,  which  will  be  made  available  for  commerce  by  the  build- 
ing of  the  canal,  you  will  have  a  sum  larger  than  any  of  the 
estimates  of  the  cost  of  the  canal.  The  canal  will  add  to  it  some 
two  or  three  dollars  per  thousand  by  the  tirne  it  is  constructed 
because  within  ten  years  from  this  date  no  white  pine  will  be 
going  down  the  great  lakes,  down  the  Erie  Canal  to  New  York. 
The  white  pine  of  Wisconsin,  Michigan  and  Minnesota  will  have 
disappeared  from  the  face  of  those  States,  and  this  great  product 
which  has  been  growing  on  the  Pacific  for  five  centuries  must 
come  to  the  market.  But  if  it  is  to  bring  any  wealth  to  the  people 
who  are  there  and  who  are  entitled  to  it,  means  must  be  adopted 
to  get  it  to  market  with  the  least  cost.  Now  I  am  not  going  to 
stand  here  to  argue  that  you  cannot  carry  many  of  the  raw  prod- 
ucts of  the  Pacific  coast  across  a  continent  three  thousand  miles 
and  over,  by  rail,  and  over  two  mountain  ranges  8,000  feet  in 
height,  more  or  less,  at  a  cost  which  will  leave  anything  to  the 
producer.  It  has  not  been  done,  and  in  my  judgment  it  never 
will  be  done,  unless  wheat  should  go  to  two  dollars  a  bushel,  and 
pine  timber  should  go  to  sixty  or  seventy-five  dollars  a  thousand. 
If  the  East  wants  to  pay  that  price  for  their  lumber  by  bringing 
it  by  rail,  it  should  be  opposed  to  the  canal;  but  if  the  East  or 
Europe  desire  to  get  lumber  at  a  fair  price,  at  a  price  which  will 
enable  them  to  use  it,  then  they  can  afford  to  pay  the  canal  tolls 
in  order  to  make  money  out  of  it. 

But  that  wheat  crop  of  Washington  can  be  duplicated  by 
Oregon  and  again  duplicated  by  California ;  and  in  addition  to  it 
comes  the  great  fruit  crop  of  that  country,  and  the  wool  crop.  In 
fact,  it  seems  that  upon  that  Western  slope  to-day  almost  every 
fruit  produce  that  man  wants,  almost  every  fruit  that  grows  any- 
where in  the  world,  can  be  produced  in  abundance.  Build  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  and  all  those  products  can  be  passed  through  the 
canal  in  refrigerator  ships  in  a  few  days  to  New  York  and  Liver- 
pool from  San  Francisco.  The  great  racing  steamers  plying 
between  New  York  and  Liverpool  would  make  the  trip  in  less  than 
ten  days.  (Applause.) 

To-day  England  is  being  supplied  with  mutton  from  Australia, 
mutton  which  is  frozen  and  carried  round  the  Horn  to  Liverpool. 
Open  the  Nicaragua  Canal  and  the  great  sheep  ranches  of  Cali- 


50082 


38 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


fornia  can  furnish  mutton  to  the  entire  Atlantic  coast,  and 
Europe  can  obtain  a  better  quality  than  comes  from  Australia. 
No  man  can  have  any  idea — I  don't  care  what  his  imagination 
may  be,  or  what  his  powers  of  description  may  be — no  man  lives 
who  can  draw  a  picture  comparable  with  the  results  which  will 
accrue  to  this  country  after  the  canal  has  been  opened  for  ten  or 
twenty-five  years. 

The  problem  of  the  farmer  is  cheap  transportation  to  market. 
If  he  is  so  located  that  he  cannot  obtain  cheap  transportation  for 
his  products,  he  degenerates;  if  he  cannot  sell  them  at  a  profit- 
able price,  he  will  not  produce  any  more  than  his  own  family  w^ill 
consume,  and  inevitably  under  those  circumstances  he  will  return 
to  a  condition  of  barbarism. 

You  ask  me  for  an  illustration  of  what  cheap  transportation 
will  do  for  the  development  of  the  country  and  the  growth  of 
the  people.  You  ought  not  to  ask  it.  But  you  are  a  busy  people, 
and  you  have  not  time  to  collect  statistics  or  examples  of  any  of 
the  results  that  have  been  accomplished  in  or  out  of  our  own 
country.  But  let  me  call  your  attention  to  a  few  instances:  A 
few  years  after  the  closing  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  was  substantially  found  within  the  limits 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean;  in  fact,  the 
majority  of  it  was  within  fifty  miles  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  There 
were  no  railroads,  there  were  no  canals,  there  was  no  communica- 
tion except  by  a  few  rivers  like  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware, 
extending  into  the  interior;  therefore  the  population  held  to  the 
Atlantic  coast.  They  never  cared  to  live  beyond  a  distance  of 
fifty  or  one  hundred  miles  off  a  stream,  because  they  could  send 
nothing  to  market.  The  cost  of  transporting  wheat  in  wagons  one 
hundred  miles  takes  up  its  entire  value.  Some  wise  men — Wash- 
ington had  first  pointed  out  the  necessity  of  it — conceived  the 
idea  of  connecting  the  head-waters  of  the  Hudson,  at  the  head  of 
navigation,  with  the  great  interior  lakes.  De  Witt  Clinton,  for 
many  years  previous  to  his  accomplishment  of  that  work,  agitated 
amongst  the  people  of  New  York  the  building  of  the  Erie  Canal, 
bringing  down  upon  his  head  a  great  deal  of  animadversion.  At 
that  time  the  majority  in  the  Legislature,  as  well  as  a  great  many 
people  in  the  State,  were  opposed  to  the  building  of  the  canal; 
they  said  it  would  destroy  the  State  and  build  up  the  West  to  their 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


39 


disadvantage.  But  the  advocates  of  the  canal  persevered,  the  build- 
ing of  the  canal  was  accomplished,  and  then  it  was  enlarged,  and 
immediately  population  began  to  flow  into  the  interior,  up  the 
Hudson  River  to  Albany,  over  the  Erie  Canal  to  Buffalo  and  to 
all  the  interior  portions  of  that  country.  Certainly  the  Erie  Canal 
made  the  West,  as  it  was  at  that  time  termed  in  the  East;  if  the 
canal  had  not  been  built,  if  it  had  not  given  the  people  cheap 
transportation  for  the  raw  products  of  the  interior,  there  is  no 
question  that  the  well-cultiuated  portion  of  this  country  to-day 
would  not  be  as  large  as  it  is  at  this  moment.  After  the  building 
of  the  canal,  and  after  the  tide  had  set  to  the  West,  then  came  the 
invention  of  railroads,  that  have  been  multiplied  by  the  hundreds 
until  we  have  in  this  country  170,000  miles  of  railroad.  But  does 
any  one  believe  that  if  the  Erie  Canal  had  never  been  built  by 
General  De  Witt  Clinton,  the  products  of  the  grain  and  corn  fields 
of  the  West  would  have  been  carried  to  the  seaboard  for  any- 
thing like  the  prices  that  are  now  charged  to  competitive  points  ? 
In  this  way  it  called  out  the  powers  and  energies  of  those  engaged 
in  railroads,  and  also  new  inventions  and  new  devices,  thus 
gradually  cheapening  the  cost  of  transportation.  But  even  to-day 
railroads  doing  their  best,  with  modern  Bessemer  steel  rails,  with 
cars  carrying  thirty  tons  and  engines  capable  of  drawing  seventy 
great  cars  thus  loaded,  are  not  able  to  compete  with  unobstructed 
water  traffic.  I  know  that  there  is  an  opinion  that  the  days  of 
canals  have  passed;  that  railroads  are  to  do  all  the  business,  they 
taking  only  a  few  days  to  cross  this  continent.  .  Only  recently  an 
intelligent  gentleman  propounded  to  me  the  question  if  I  didn't 
believe  that  the  days  of  water  transportation  had  passed.  I  said, 
"  Not  at  all,  sir."  He  looked  somewhat  surprised.  I  said,  "If 
you  were  familiar  with  the  business  of  transportation,  as  you 
ought  to  be,  you  would  not  ask  any  such  question  as  that." 
"Why?"  I  said,  "Do  you  know  that  last  year  there  passed 
through  the  St.  Clair  Canal  near  Detroit  over  30,000,000  tons  of 
registered  shipping;  that  that  was  more  than  went  in  and  out  of 
both  of  the  great  ports  of  Liverpool  and  London?  Do  you  know, 
sir,  that  through  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal  connecting  that  city 
with  Lake  Huron,  in  234  days  there  went  over  9,000,000  tons  of. 
shipping,  or  more  than  went  through  the  Suez  Canal,  with  all  the 
trade  of  England?"    He  admitted  that  he  did  not  know  it. 


40 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


''Then,"  I  said,  "you  had  better  post  yourself  upon  the  contemp- 
oraneous history  of  your  own  country."  This  commerce  was 
carried  through  the  great  lock  of  that  canal  last  year  at  a  cost 
to  the  shipper  (therefore,  I  presume,  leaving  a  profit  in  the  trans- 
portation,) it  was  carried  at  a  cost  of  1.3  mills  per  ton  per  mile, 
whereas  the  reports  show  that  the  railroad  lines  in  the  vicinity  of 
these  great  lakes  that  do  so  much  of  that  business,  charged  last 
year  for  the  transportation  of  the  same  products,  nearly  5  mills 
per  ton  per  mile,  or  nearly  four  times  what  it  was  by  water.  Now 
they  are  going  to  enlarge  the  St.  Clair  Canal  in  order  that  ships 
carrying  three  or  four  thousand  tons  coming  down  the  great 
lakes  may  go  through  it.  The  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  appropriated  money  for  this  work,  and  when  it  is 
completed  it  is  estimated  that  grain  can  be  transported  from 
Duluth  to  Buffalo  at  a  cost  of  not  more  than  one-half  the  cost  I 
have  just  mentioned,  or  not  more  than  one-half  of  a  mill  per  ton 
per  mile.  That  is  a  rate  so  low  that  no  railroad  man  dares  to 
entertain  the  thought  that  he  can  ever  meet  it;  it  is  more  than 
eight  times  less  than  what  they  can  do  it  for;  it  is  as  one  to  eight 
of  the  cost  by  rail. 

Of  course,  railroads  have  been  of  great  benefit  to  the  people; 
they  are  great  developers  of  the  country;  but  you  will  find  that 
those  railroads  are  the  most  prosperous  where  there  is  also  large 
water  transportation.  Look  at  the  transportation  business  that  is 
done  through  New  York  State  and  you  will  find  the  Erie  Canal 
with  business  constantly  growing,  and  alongside  of  it  run  the 
New  York  Central  with  four  tracks,  from  Buffalo  to  Albany,  and 
the  West  Shore  railroad  leased  by  the  Central  with  two  other 
tracks, — six  main  tracks  in  sight  of  the  canal  all  the  way  along. 
Railroads  would  not  dare  to  destroy  canals  if  they  could.  On  the 
contrary  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York  who  made  the  Erie 
Canal  at  a  cost  of  $60,  coo,  000  are  going  to  deepen  it  at  a  cost 
now,  in  round  figures  of  $100,000,000  which  will  be  put  upon  the 
people  of  the  whole  State  to  keep  it  open  and  free  to  commerce. 
The  commercial  business  done  through  it,  or  ninety-odd  per  cent, 
of  it,  comes  from  the  Western  States;  but  the  wise  men  of  New 
York  know  that  the  Erie  Canal  has  brought  to  New  York  State 
more  than  one  hundred  times  the  cost  of  that  canal;  they  know 
that  it  has  made  New  York  the  metropolis  of  this  country,  and  in 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


and  out  of  whose  port  goes  more  than  one-half  of  all  the  imports 
and  exports  of  these  great  States,  containing  over  sixty  millions 
of  people.  It  has  made  it  the  great  manufacturing  State,  because 
of  the  cheapness  of  the  raw  material  and  the  cheap  carrying  away 
of  the  products. 

Now  we  have  this  vast  territory  in  the  West  which  cannot  be 
developed  to  any  great  extent  without  cheap  water  transportation. 
There  are  little  more  than  two  millions  upon  the  Pacific  coast  to- 
day, with  a  capacity  of  maintaining  more  than  fifty  millions.  Give 
them  cheap  water  transportation  and  you  will  find  the  struggling 
population  of  the  East  rushing  into  that  country.  In  my  judg- 
ment, within  five  years  after  the  completion  of  this  canal  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Pacific  coast  will  be  doubled  and  in  ten  years 
quadrupled.     But  why  take  up  more  time  on  that  question  ? 

I  now  come  to  another  point:  How  is  this  canal  going  to  be 
built  ?  How  is  the  money  to  be  obtained  ?  We  have  expended 
$5,000,000  upon  it,  and  we  have  obtained  that  money  by  private 
subscription.  I  have  asked  my  friends  here  and  there  to  take 
$25,000  of  stock  or  $10,000,  or  $5,000,  and  some  of  them  have 
done  it  because  they  believed  it  was  a  good  thing,  others  have 
done  it  because  they  wanted  to  gratify  me  and  to  help  me  along 
in  this  work.  Of  course,  it  is  evident  that  one  hundred  millions 
of  money  cannot  be  obtained  in  that  way.  The  time  has  come 
for  us  to  appeal  to  the  public.  This  company  is  now  proposing 
to  issue  bonds  which  are  to  run  for  five  years  and  then  either  be 
redeemed  or  converted  into  long  bonds  of  the  Maritime  Company. 
I  am  not  going  into  any  detailed  description  of  the  financial  plans 
at  this  time. 

The  Maritime  Canal  Company  received  its  charter  from  Con- 
gress and  is  attempting  faithfully  and  honestly,  1  believe,  to  carry 
out  the  powers  granted  by  it,  and  will  do  so,  so  far  as  lies  in  my 
power.  I  have  travelled  over  8,000  miles  in  the  last  thirty-five 
days  and  over  20,000  miles  the  last  year  in  attempting  to  stir  up 
our  people  upon  this  great  question.  When  we  began  this  work 
we  believed  that  when  we  should  appeal  to  our  countrymen  for 
money  we  should  get  it.  I  have  great  confidence  in  the  American 
people  and  believe  that  they  will  come  to  the  support  of  the  canal 
and  furnish  it  with  the  funds  necessary  to  build  it.  I  am  aware 
there  is  a  very  strong  feeling  throughout  the  country,  as  empha- 


42 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


sized  by  the  speech  of  Judge  Estee,  and  of  others,  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  should  be  largely,  if  not  chiefly, 
interested  in  this  work.  (Applause.) 

Now  I  am  going  to  talk  perfectly  plainly  upon  that  question, 
because  I  have  been  misrepresented  frequently  by  individuals,  and 
frequently  by  the  press,  not  misrepresented  intentionally,  I  think, 
but  because  whenever  they  see  a  measure  in  Congress  looking 
towards  granting  money  to  aid  a  corporation — no  matter  what  it 
may  be,  whether  for  a  canal  or  a  railroad — they  are  very  likely  to 
assume  that  there  is  a  "job"  behind  it,  or  that  somebody  is 
attempting  to  get  government  money  for  his  own  private  pur- 
poses. I  am  weighing  my  words  carefully.  The  company  with 
which  I  am  connected  has,  in  no  way,  directly  or  indirectly, 
sought  government  aid  in  this  enterprise,  and  so  long  as  I  am  at 
the  head  of  it,  it  will  not,  and  I  hope  that  you  have  put  it  down 
in  your  memory  and  I  hope  that  the  reporters  have  put  it  down 
so  they  won't  forget  it.  I  am  able  to  produce  the  proof  of  my 
statement.  If  you  want  the  proof  of  it,  go  to  the  report  made  by 
the  Foreign  Affairs  Committee  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
at  the  last  session  upon  this  question,  in  which  they  stated  that 
this  company  had  in  no  way  sought  the  aid  of  the  government. 
How  does  it  happen  then  that  there  is  a  bill  before  Congress  to 
guarantee  one  hundred  millions,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be 
necessary,  of  the  bonds  of  this  company,  and  thus  carry  on  the 
work  to  completion  with  government  aid  ?  It  is  a  very  simple 
tale  when  told.  I  was  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  repre- 
senting New  York,  when  the  treaty  came  there  under  which,  if  it 
had  been  ratified  by  the  government,  this  work  would  have  been 
completed  by  this  time,  and  the  government  would  have  owned 
it.  I  think  it  was  a  great  mistake  it  was  not  ratified.  When  I 
left  the  Senate  this  company,  which  had  taken  up  this  great  work, 
knowing  my  friendship  for  it,  came  to  me  and  offered  me  the 
Presidency  of  the  Construction  Company.  After  considering  it 
for  more  than  a  month,  I  finally  consented  to  accept  it.  I  am 
very  frank  to  say  that  if  the  immensity  of  this  undertaking,  of  the 
difficulty  of  educating  the  American  people  to  its  great  import- 
ance, had  been  fully  presented  to  me  at  that  time,  I  should  not 
have  had  the  courage  to  undertake  it,  but  I  have  been  going  on 
for  two  years  now  doing  every  day  what  I  could  do  for  the  day. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


43 


and  then  putting  the  burden  down  every  night  and  taking  it  up  in 
the  morning.    I  have  dispensed  with  it  usually  at  night,  otherwise 
I  could  not  have  kept  on.    When  I  became  President  of  the  Com- 
pany, several  of  the  leading  Senators  of  the  United  States  Senate 
— Senator  Edmunds,   Senator  Morgan,   Senator  Sherman,  and 
Senator  Dolph  and  one  or  two  others — sent  for  me  to  come 
to  Washington,   and  this  is  substantially  what  took   place: — 
Senator  Edmunds  said:    ''You  are  going  to  build  the  canal, 
Miller?"    I  said :  "  I  will  do  the  best  I  can."    He  said:  "How 
are  you  going  to  get  the  money  to  build  it?"    1  said:  "I  am  going 
to  issue  securities."    "What  will  you  get  for  them  ?"     "I  don't 
know  ;  if  I  can't  sell  them  at  par,  I  will  sell  them  at  75  cents  ;  if 
I  cannot  get  that,  I  will  sell  them  at  50;  I  know  the  people  of  the 
world  at  large  are  of  a  speculative  turn  of  mind,  and  that  the 
attention  of  the  world  is  drawn  to  this  great  work.    I  will  take 
for  the  securities  whatever  I  can  get,  and  the  most  for  them  I  can 
get."    He  said:  "Where  are  the  securities  likely  to  go?"  "I 
presume  they  will  largely  go  abroad.    We  have  a  great  country, 
it  is  true,  and  wx  are  a  very  rich  people,  the  richest  people  in  the 
world,  but  we  have  a  great  many  things  to  do  ;  we  are  still 
borrowing  money  abroad."    He  told  me  that  was  not  quite  the 
right  thing;  that  he  thought  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
ought  not  to  permit  it  to  go  abroad.     I  said  :  "Quite  likely  ;  I 
agree  with  you.     When  I  was  in  the  hienate  I  thought  the  govern- 
ment then  ought  to  build  it  under  the  treaty,  but  I  am  not  there 
now;  I  am  President  of  the  company.    It  is  my  duty  if  I  can  get 
the  money  to  build  this  canal,  to  get  it,  and  that  is  what  I  am 
going  to  try  to  do.  Senator."    He  said:  "Is  there  no  way  by 
which  the  government  can  come  into  this  canal  enterprise  so  as 
to  have  a  large  share  in  the  control  of  it  ?"    I  said:   "There  is  no 
trouble  about  that  at  all;  if  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
thinks  it  ought  to  have  a  hand  in  this  great  work,  as  England  in 
the  Suez  Canal,   this  company  is  composed  of  loyal,  patriotic 
American  citizens,  and  they  will  not  stand  in  your  way."  The 
result  was  that  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Affairs  was  charged 
by  the  Senate  to  take  up  this  matter  and  consider  it,  and  report 
what,  if  anything,  ought  to  be  done.    They  called  me  repeatedly 
before  them,  in  considering  what  could  be  done,  and  after  sever- 
al weeks,  even  months,  of  consideration  of  this  matter,  I  became 


44 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


somewhat  tired  of  the  delay,  and  I  finally  said  to  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee: "I  will  make  you  a  proposition."  Now,  without  violat- 
ing any  confidence,  I  will  tell  you  briefly  what  the  proposition 
was,  not  going  now  into  all  its  details.  I  said  :  '  'If  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  wants  to  take  it  up  and  guarantee  a  suffi- 
cient amount  of  the  bonds  of  the  canal,  it  can  do  so;  it  can  pay 
our  company  just  what  we  have  expended  upon  it.  We  will  place 
•our  accounts  before  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  who  shall  audit  them,  so  that  you  will  know  what 
we  have  expended  upon  it;  then,"  I  said,  "you  can  give  us  as  a 
profit  for  our  labor,  our  energy,  our  skill,  our  trouble  and  our 
anxiety,  just  whatever  you  think  it  is  worth.  If  you  think  it  is 
not  worth  anything,  you  need  not  give  us  anything  for  it."  '1  here 
I  left  it.  (Applause.) 

If  anybody  thinks  I  ought  to  have  made  a  more  generous  pro- 
position than  that  to  the  government,  I  would  like  to  have  him 
stand  up  and  say  so.  It  takes  the  government  a  long  time  to 
to  move;  I  have  been  going  on  getting  money  ever  since.  I  have 
got  a  good  deal,  I  am  glad  to  say;  five  or  six  millions  of  dollars 
have  been  put  in  the  work.  I  propose  to  float  it  as  a  private  en- 
terprise if  I  can,  but  that  was  the  proposition  made  to  the  govern- 
ment. As  a  result  of  that  the  Foreign  Affairs  Committee  of  the 
last  Senate  reported  a  bill  unanimously,  every  member  of  that 
committee  voted  for  it.  Democrats  and  Republicans  alike.  The 
committee  reported  a  bill  by  which  the  government  was  to  guar- 
antee $100,000,000  of  bonds  for  the  construction  of  the  canal,  or 
so  much  thereof  as  was  necessary.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
was  to  deliver  the  bonds  to  the  company  upon  the  certificate  of 
the  government  engineers  that  so  much  work  had  been  completed. 
They  were  to  pay  the  company  for  the  work  already  done  in  bonds 
to  the  amount  of  the  work  that  has  been  done,  on  the  certificate 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the  Secretary  of  State  as  to 
the  amount  which  the  company  had  expended.  The  President  of 
the  United  States  was  himself  to  appoint  six  directors  out  of 
fifteen.  Then  in  order  to  protect  the  government  and  people,  and 
in  order  to  be  sure  there  could  be  no  monopoly  about  it, — if  any- 
one should  wish  to  make  it  a  monopoly, — the  Government  of  the 
United  States  was  to  take  into  its  Treasury  seven-tenths  of  the 
amount  of  stock  of  the  company,  and  by  amendment  of  the  char- 


NICARAGUA  CANAL 


CONVENTION. 


45 


ter  it  was  to  be  provided  tliat  no  more  stock  could  be  issued;  in 
other  words,  it  was  to  take  seventy  millions  of  the  stock  out  of  its 
hands  and  place  it  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States ;  then 
after  that,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  if  he  thought  it  neces- 
sary for  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  the  government,  could 
appear  in  every  stockholders'  meeting  and  vote  the  seventy  mil- 
lion shares,  thus  controlling  the  other  directors.  It  would  be 
pretty  well  under  government  control  by  that  time,  would  it  not? 
Still  in  the  face  of  that,  there  are  some  men  in  this  country  who 
have  been  howling  themselves  hoarse  with  the  statement  that  this 
bill  did  not  give  any  proper  protection  to  the  government,  and 
that  if  the  money  was  voted  it  would  be  as  it  was  with  the  Union 
Pacific  and  all  other  trans-continental  railroads— that  the  company 
would  get  away  with  the  whole  thing.  The  only  trouble  with 
those  men  is  that  they  never  read  the  bill,  or  if  they  ever  did, 
they  had  not  sense  enough  to  understand  it.  (Applause). 

Now,  I  am  not  here  to  urge  upon  this  convention  any  action 
leading  to  the  government  doing  this.  I  have  come  here  simply 
to  make  a  plain  statement  of  the  whole  matter  to  this  convention, 
and  through  it  to  the  American  people.  I  have  not  come  here  to 
influence  in  the  slightest  degree  the  action  of  this  convention. 
Of  course,  I  am  deeply  interested  in  what  it  shall  do,  and  I  hope 
that  my  course  and  what  I  have  done  will  meet  with  the  approval 
•of  this  convention  and  of  the  people,  as  I  believe  it  will,  when  it 
is  thoroughly  understood. 

I  am  not  here  to  say  anything  in  regard  to  what  the  convention 
should  do,  whether  it  should  call  upon  Congress  to  pass  this  bill 
•or  some  other,  or  whether  it  should  take  any  other  course.  I 
have  simply  come  here  to  plainly  present  to  you  the  history  of 
this  enterprise,  to  tell  you  what  we  have  been  doing,  what  we  are 
trying  to  do,  and  what  we  hope  to  do.  I  believe  that  with  the 
co-operation  of  leading  men  all  over  this  country  the  American 
people  will  finally — I  cannot  tell  how  long  it  may  take  to  educate 
them — that  they  will  finally  come  to  the  aid  of  the  company  by 
taking  their  securities  and  that  the  company  per  se  will  complete 
the  work  without  the  aid  of  the  government.  But  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  believe  that 
the  government  ought  to  have  a  share  at  least  in  the  control  of 
this  great  work,  and  that  it  ought  to  have  a  protectorate  over  it, 


46 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


it  is  not  for  me  to  put  anything  in  the  way  of  it  so  doing.  Of 
course,  I  am  compelled  to  move  forward;  I  cannot  pay  laborers 
in  Nicaragua,  I  cannot  pay  the  officers  of  the  company  and  the 
engineers  on  the  work,  nor  pay  for  machinery,  upon  mere  enthu- 
siasm, upon  the  proposition  "that  somebody  believes  the  govern- 
ment ought  to  have  it."  I  have  in  the  last  year  found  out  a  great 
deal  about  that;  I  have  found  hundreds  of  substantial,  leading 
men  all  over  the  country  look  at  it  and  say,  "Yes,  it  is  a  most 
wonderful  work  and  the  government  ought  to  have  it;  but 
I  am  very  busy,  I  have  no  time  to  give  it;  the  government 
ought  to  have  it."  Well,  that  is  all  right;  I  have  no  quarrel 
with  those  men,  no  argument  to  make  with  them;  I  simply  say 
that  we  must  go  on  or  else  abandon  the  enterprise,  and  I  know 
that  if  we  lay  it  down,  parties  abroad  stand  ready  to  take  it  up, 
and  then  if  the  United  States  get  control  of  it,  it  will  be  by  the 
expenditure  of  untold  millions  of  treasure,  and  blood. 

But  I  do  not  despair  at  all  of  action.  I  have  met  with  only 
the  most  enthusiastic  and  cordial  reception  from  Minneapolis  to 
Puget  Sound,  from  there  to  San  Francisco  and  San  Diego  in  the 
south,  down  through  Texas  to  Galveston  and  up  here.  I  know 
that  all  over  this  country,  at  heart,  the  people  are  right  upon  this 
question.  I  have  not  yet  seen — though  I  have  heard  of  him — one 
man  who  is  against  the  canal ;  I  have  not  seen  him  since  he  pro- 
nounced himself  against  it;  he  may  be  against  it,  but  now  I  don't 
think  there  are  a  dozen  opponents  in  the  entire  United  States. 
That  is  my  judgment  about  it.  We  believe  that  all  will  rally  to 
the  support  of  this  work. 

I  will  not  here,  in  the  face  of  this  convention,  undertake  to 
speak  of  the  probabilities  of  the  success  of  the  enterprise  commer- 
cially;  it  is  unnecessary.  I  do  not  like  to  deal  in  theories,  but  if 
you  want  to  know  what  a  ship  canal  will  do,  I  refer  you  to  the 
annual  report  of  the  Suez  Canal  for  the  past  year.  I  have  shown 
you  that  the  saving,  by  Nicaragua,  is  10,000  miles  as  against 
3,600  by  the  Suez  route.  Mr.  Estee  has  shown  that  the  results 
to  be  expected  from  this  canal  are  greater  than  those  from  the 
Suez  Canal,  within  a  few  years  after  it  is  opened.  It  goes  without 
saying,  in  my  judgment,  without  any  theory  about  it,  that  the 
success  of  the  enterprise  from  a  commercial  standpoint  is  beyond 
question. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


47 


The  question  has  been  raised  by  some  that  it  would  be  a  mo- 
nopoly and  be  of  no  benefit  to  the  people.  Let  us  look  at  that  for 
a  moment  from  that  point. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Company  is  not  a 
transportation  company ;  it  simply  constructs  a  canal  and  main- 
tains it  for  the  commerce  of  the  world.  There  are  certain  restric- 
tions in  the  concession  that  will  not  permit  a  profit  above  a 
certain  percentage  without  a  reduction  of  tolls;  that  is  one  thing. 
Another  thing  is  that  the  Nicaragua  Canal  cannot  charge  a 
greater  rate  of  toll  than  the  Suez  Canal  on  vessels  from  the 
Orient.  It  does  not  need  any  large  amount  of  wisdom  to  under- 
stand w^hy  this  will  be.  The  Nicaragua  Canal  cannot  be  made  a 
monopoly  of,  because  there  are  no  conditions  surrounding  it  which 
would  permit  it.  Of  course,  if  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  had  control  of  it,  it  could  fix  the  rate  of  toll  and  settle  that 
matter  for  all  time. 

The  Suez  Canal  is  largely  under  the  control  of  the  British 
Empire.  England  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  build- 
ing of  that  canal  or  to  subscribe  to  any  of  its  shares.  But  soon 
after  it  was  opened  it  was  satisfactorily  demonstrated  that  it  was 
to  be  one  of  the  controlling  factors  in  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  particularly  in  the  commerce  of  the  British  Empire,  and 
England  had  to  buy  in  the  shares  of  the  Khedive  of  Egypt.  What 
has  been  the  result  ?  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  his  re- 
port some  few  weeks  ago  stated  that  the  shares  of  the  Suez  Canal, 
which  had  been  purchased  for  four  million  pounds  sterling,  a  little 
less  than  $20,000,000,  could  be  sold  to-day  in  the  open  market 
for  between  nineteen  and  twenty  million  pounds  sterling,  or  a 
little  less  than  $100,000,000.  No  very  bad  investment,  it  seems 
to  me,  even  for  English  commerce. 

The  Nicaragua  Canal  enterprise  also  appeals  to  the  patriotism 
of  the  American  people,  for  it  is  needed  as  a  matter  of  national 
defense,  for  the  passage  of  our  naval  vessels.  It  is  needed  to 
make  the  coast  line  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  and  the  Gulf  one, 
and  to  annihilate  over  10,000  miles  of  distance. 

Shall  this  enterprise  be  allowed  to  drag  along  slowly  for  three, 
four  or  five  years  by  the  expenditure  of  only  one  million  or  two 
millions  each  year,  when  it  ought  to  have  five,  ten,  _fifteen_or 
twenty^illions  expended  on  it  in  the  years  numbered  i,  2,  3,  4, 


48 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


5  ?  That  is  for  the  American  people  to  say,  and  their  judgment  is 
to  be  largely  affected  undoubtedly  by  an  organization  like  this,  by 
a  convention  like  this. 

But  I  am  simply  here  as  President  of  the  Company  to  explain 
what  we  have  done  and  what  we  have  to  do,  and  I  simply  say,  in 
conclusion,  that  I  hold  this  to  be  the  most  important  work  of  the 
century.  I  believe  that  it  will  do  more  for  our  whole  country 
than  anything  that  has  been  done  within  this  country  during  the 
past  fifty  years.  Lastly,  I  am  certain  in  my  own  mind  that 
whether  the  American  people  help  it  or  not,  or  whether  the 
American  Government  shall  take  it  up  or  not,  or  whoever  is  to 
be  instrumental  in  completing  it,  that  this  great  problem  will 
never  again  be  laid  down  to  rest  until  it  is  carried  to  a  final  and 
successful  conclusion.     (Great  applause). 

A  delegate :  I  want  to  know  what  is  the  difference  between  the 
Senate  bill,  which  you  mention,  and  that  of  the  Union  Pacific  and 
Northern  Pacific,  which  were  constructed  with  the  aid  of  the  United 
States.   I  simply  want  to  know  the  difference  between  the  two  bills. 

Mr.  Miller:  I  don't  know  of  any  similarity  between  them;  if 
there  is  any,  I  have  never  discovered  it.  The  difference  between 
those  bills  is  this:  that  in  the  case  of  the  Union  Pacific  the  United 
States  Government  guaranteed  a  certain  amount  of  bonds,  I 
think  $65,000,000,  and  consented  to  make  them  a  second  mort- 
gage; it  didn't  get  stock  for  those  bonds,  and  the  National  Gov- 
ernment has  therefore  never  had  control  of  it.  Under  the  bill  of 
the  Senate  it  is  proposed  that  the  government  guarantee  these 
Nicaragua  Canal  bonds ;  that  it  take  into  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States  seventy  millions  of  the  stock  of  the  company;  that 
it  appoint  six  of  the  directors  and  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  if  he  thought  it  necessary,  vote  upon  that  seventy 
millions  of  stock  at  every  meeting  of  the  stockholders;  thus 
every  director  of  the  company,  except  one  director  from  Nicara- 
gua and  one  from  Costa  Rica  would  be  controlled  by  the  judgment 
of  the  United  States  Government.  In  other  words,  the  United 
Stales  Government  would  be  absolutely  controlling  the  canal 
through  the  machinery  of  this  corporation. 

The  delegate:  That  is  as  good  as  if  she  owned  every  dollar  of 
the  stock  ? 

Mr.  Miller:  I  think  so. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


49 


The  Secretary  read  the  following  telegram  from  San  Francisco : 

San  Francisco,  California, 
Jnne  1st,  1892. 
To  Hon.  Wm.  L.  Merry,  Southern  Hotel,  St.  Louis : 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  unanimously  by  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  San  Francisco,  in  session  this  day.  Please  present  them 
to  the  Canal  Convention: 

Whereas,  The  early  completion  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  of  great 
importance  to  the  commerce  of  this  country,  and  particularly  of  the  Pacific 
•coast;  and 

Whereas,  An  American  company  has  undertaken  the  construction  of 
this  canal,  and  has  already  expended  thereon  the  sum  of  about  five  millions 
of  dollars,  and  the  work  is  being  prosecuted  as  rapidly  as  the  means  secured 
w^ill  permit ;  and 

Whereas,  The  Construction  Company  now  offers  to  the  public,  through 
the  Bank  of  California,  five  millions  of  the  collateral  six  per  cent,  trust 
l^onds,  with  interest  secured,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  money  necessary 
to  prosecute  the  work  of  construction  vigorously,  and  continually,  it  is 

Resolved,  That  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  San  Francisco,  in  view  of 
the  important  benefits  to  accrue  from  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  having 
confidence  in  the  wisdom,  integrity  and  ability  of  the  Construction  Com- 
pany, recommend  the  bonds  now  offered  through  the  financial  agent  of  the 
company,  the  Bank  of  California,  as  in  our  opinion  a  safe  and  desirable 
investment. 

Resolved,  That  we  believe  in  no  other  way  can  the  people  of  this  coast 
better  express  the  desire  to  promote  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the 
coast,  than  by  aiding  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  that  a 
safe  and  practicable  way  of  so  doing  is  by  investing  in  the  bonds  now 
offered. 

E.  B.  POND,  President. 
THOS.  J.  HAYNES,  Secretary. 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  names  of  the  Committees : 
Committee  on  Resolutions: — D.  H.  Oilman,  Washington;  E.  R.  Wood, 
Pennsylvania;  J.  F.  Merry,  Iowa;  Thos.  E.  Merritt,  Illinois;  Richard  F. 
Ernst.  Kentucky;  Gen.  Willard  Warner,  Tennessee;  Wm.  P.  Ross,  Louis- 
iana; Hon.  M.  M.  Estee,  California;  Aaron  Vanderbilt,  New  York;  C. 
•Cadle,  Alabama;  Howard  Jones,  Kansas;  J.  L.  Caldwell,  West  Virginia ; 
Ed.  S.  Bradford,  Massachusettts ;  Champion  S.  Chase,  Nebraska ;  J,  Q.  Bur- 
bridge,  Florida;  F.  W.  Risque,  New  Mexico;  E.  H.  Bristow,  Mississippi; 
James  Moore,  Texas;  W.  H.  Whitaker,  North  Carolina;  Richard  H. 
Willett,  Washmgton,  D.  C;  Hon.  E.  C.  Minor,  Virginia;  Geo.  H.  Sanders, 
Arkansas;  S.  H.  Hawkins,  Georgia;  Hon.  J.  W.  Keifer,  Ohio;  V.  T. 
McGillicuddy,  South  Dakota;  Hon.  M.  L.  Clardy,  Missouri;  Hon.  Wm.  C. 
Maybury,  Michigan ;  Jas.  W.  Wartman^  Indiana. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


Committee  on  Rules  and  Order  of  Business : — John  Schoentern,  Iowa ; 
Hiram  Andreas,  Pennsylvania;  Thomas  W.  Scott,  lUinois;  A.  T.  Berry, 
Kentucky;  J.  J.  WiUiams,  Tennessee;  Lucas  E.  Moore,  Louisiana;  B.  F. 
Langf ord,  CaHf ornia ;  Ambrose  Snow,  New  York ;  A.  H.  Kellar,  Alabama ; 
J.  C.  Caldwell,  Kansas:  J.  A.  Welsh,  West  Virginia;  E.  S.  Bradford, 
Massachusetts;  Jas.  Stevenson,  Nebraska;  J,  M.  Weatherwax,  State  of 
Washington;  Sigo  Myers,  Florida;  T.  B.  Carson,  New  Mexico;  C.  L.  Robin- 
son, Mississippi ;  R.  B.  Hawley,  Texas ;  W.  A.  Whitaker,  North  Carolina ;: 
R.  H.  Willett,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  J.  S.  Williams,  Virginia ;  J.  B.  Speer, 
Arkansas ;  W.  B.  Burroughs,  Georgia ;  M.  Ryan,  Ohio ;  V.  T.  McGiUicuddy, 
South  Dakota;  Hon.  N.  Frank,  Missouri;  Alex.  Gilchrist,  Indiana;  Jesse 
H.  Farwell,  Michigan. 

Committee  on  Credentials : — Jas.  A.  Clayton,  California;  J.  A.  Bentley, 
Louisiana;  R.  G.  Butler,  Michigan;  Walter  G.  Coleman,  Florida;  D.  M. 
Harry,  Indiana ;  T.  H.  Studebaker,  Iowa ;  E.  H.  Taylor,  Kentucky ;  A.  G. 
Elliott,  Pennsylvania;  W.  Ochs,  Tennessee;  John  H.  Rogers,  Arkansas; 
A.  O.  Marshall,  Illinois,  Edward  S.  Bradford,  Massachusetts ;  S.  H.  Dent, 
Alabama;  J.  B.  Kouney,  Nebraska;  Hon.  George  West,  New  York;  F.  R. 
Lassiter,  Virginia;  J.  E.  Dana,  West  Virginia;  W.  W.  Gordon,  Georgia; 
H.  F.  Fellows,  Missouri ;  Howell  Jones,  Kansas;  Edward  Eldridge,  Wash 
ington;  R.  H.  Willett,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Leon  Blum,  Texas;  F.  W.  Risque, 
New  Mexico ;  A.  J.  Russell,  Mississippi ;  Thos.  T.  Hogg,  North  Carolina ;  R. 
T.  Hough,  Ohio;  V.  T.  McGiUicuddy,  South  Dakota. 

Committee  on  Permanent  Organization  : — W.  T.  West,  Alabama;  Hon. 
L.  Archer,  California;  Edward  F.  Bradford,  Massachusetts;  Nelson  Bennett, 
Washington  State;  V.  T.  McGiUicuddy,  South  Dakota;  R.  G.  Butler, 
Michigan;  M.  H.  Moore,  Iowa;  W.  R.  Brown,  Illinois;  O.  B.  Gunn, 
Missouri;  Henry  D.  Pierce,  Indiana;  A.  A.  Woods,  Louisana;  W.  A.  Morri- 
son, Florida ;  J.  D.  Power,  Kentucky ;  Edward  R.  Wood,  Pennsylvania ;  W. 
W.  Echols,  Tennessee ;  John  F.  Henry,  New  York ;  J.  C.  Caldwell,  Kansas ;. 
William  H.  Edwards,  West  Virginia;  T.  B.  Catron,  New  Mexico;  T.  J. 
O'Neil,  Mississippi ;  J.  B.  Kouney,  Nebraska ;  R.  B.  Hawley,  Texas ;  Thos.  T. 
Hogg,  North  Carolina;  R.  H.  Willett,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  George  W.  Ander- 
son, Virginia;  Hon.  Logan  H.  Root,  Arkansas;  S.  H.  Hawkins,  Georgia: 
Hon.  Amos  Townsend,  Ohio. 

An  adjournment  was  taken  until  half  past  nine  o'clock  the  following 
morning. 

SECOND  day's  session. 

The  convention  re-assembled  at  ten  o'clock,  temporary  Chairman  Stan- 
ard  in  the  Chair. 

The  Committee  on  Credentials  made  the  following  report,  which  was 
adopted : 

• '  Your  Committee  on  Credentials  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following,  as- 
the  list  of  delegates  entitled  to  seats  in  this  Convention : 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


51 


LIST  OF  DELEGATES. 

CALIFORNIA. 

Hon.  M.  M.  Estee,  L.  B.  Archer,  Capt.  W.  L.  Merry,  Hon.  Horace 
Davis,  Col.  L.  L.  Baker,  Hon.  B.  F.  Langford,  Col.  Joseph  Clark,  Hon. 
J.  D.  Lynch,  Gen.  E  P.  Johnson,  Judge  Lawrence  Archer,  Hon.  J.  A. 
Clayton,  Hon.  F.  A.  Kimball,  Hon.  W.  Stewart,  Hon.  Alvinza  Hayward, 
Hon.  J.  J.  Doyle,  Hon.  E.  H.  Tucker,  Hon.  C.  W.  Taylor,  Hon.  A.  L. 
Bryan,  Daniel  Stone,  Hosmer  P.  McCune,  H.  L.  Titus,  William  Moller, 
Henry  B.  Hunt. 

FLORIDA. 

Hunt  Chipley,  E.  R.  Gumby,  Sigo  Meyers,  W.  G.  Coleman,  J.  A. 
Burbridge,  Wm.  A.  Morrison,  John  Bradley. 

ARKANSAS. 

Hod.  Logan  Roots,  J.  H.  Rogers. 

IOWA. 

F.  W.  Faulkes,  Fred  O'Donnell,  Col.  A.  W.  Swalm,  J.  J.  Hamilton, 
S.  K.  Tracey,  Alex.  A.  Johnstone,  J.  H.  Murphey,  W.  J.  Young,  Jr.,  Fred. 
A.  Bill,  J.  F.  Merry,  T.  H.  Studebaker,  Robert  Hufschmidt,  C.  G.  Green, 
^yron  Webster,  Can  Manning,  J.  E.  Seevers,  S.  A.  Stevenson,  J.  D.  See- 
berger.  Gen.  H.  H.  Wright,  W.  E.  Lewis,  John  Schoentgen,  E.  A.  Con- 
/signey,  C.  L.  Lund,  Albert  Head,  Jas.  F.  Peevey,  D.  L.  Richards. 

ILLINOIS. 

Hon.  Ralph  Plumb,  John  W.  Keeslar,  B.  Temple,  G.  W.  Brown,  Frank 
M.  Taylor,  P.  Howard,  William  Armstrong,  David  R.  Sparks,  Edward 
Prince,  Horace  S.  Brown,  J.  H.  Burnham,  Edmund  Beall,  H.  G.  McPike, 
T.  H.  Plane,  Thos.  C.  Mather,  Jas.  Milliken,  Walter  Cole,  George  C.  Cooper, 
Philip  Pastel,  Allen  Bleakley,  Edward  F.  Cragin,  George  S.  Baker,  George 
C.  Powers,  Thos.  E.  Merritt,  W.  R.  Brown,  Thos.  W.  Scott,  H.  J.  Strawn, 
M.  E.  Greenbaum,  Wardell  Guthrie,  Frederick  Lodding,  Jas.  Moneyhan, 
Jas.  T.  Rawleigh,  John  Blegen,  William  Vocke,  George  B.  Abbot,  E.  C. 
Hawley,  R.  H.  Fiddick,  J.  F.  Spaulding,  W.  H.  Lyman,  A.  O.  Marshall. 

KENTUCKY. 

W.  T.  Handy,  Jas.  G.  Garnett,  Henry  Burnett,  Josh.  D.  Powers,  S.  B. 
Vance,  Wilbur  A.  Browder,  C.  McElroy,  Sylvester  Russell,  Ben.  T.  John- 
son,  George  M.  Davie,  Albert  S.  Willis,  Thos.  T.  Hargis,  John  D.  White, 
Lucien  Adkins,  A.  E.  Willson,  J.  W.  Byron,  Richard  P.  Ernst,  Albert  S. 
Derry,  W.  E.  Simms,  Claude  Thomas,  J.  Hull,  C.  J.  Bronston,  E.  H.  Tay- 
lor, Jr.,  John  B.  Thompson,  J.  Stone  Walker,  Garret  S.  Wall,  James  B. 
Harbeson,  S.  C.  Bascom,  Laban  T.  Moore,  D.  F.  Crockrill,  Louis  Apperson, 
"W.  M.  Beckner,  James  Sandifer,  T.  H.  Tinsley. 

NEW  YORK. 

Hon.  Geo.  West,  Ambrose  Snow,  John  F.  Henry,  Aaron  Vanderbilt. 


52 


NICARAGUA 


CANAL 


CONVENTION. 


LOUISIANA. 

A.  A.  Woods,  W.  J.  Saunders,  L.  E.  Moore,  W.  P.  Ross,  Fred  Gardner,. 
Louis  P.  Rice,  E.  Jeff.  Bryan,  Robert  McMillan,  Pearl  Wight,  O.  Thomas, 
F.  G.  Ernst,  B.  D.  Wood,  F.  J.  Odendahl,  Breedlove  Smith,  A.  Wolfe,  A. 
Schrieber,  J.  A.  Bentley,  H.  J.  Warner,  J.  F.  Spearing,  Sr. 

MARYLAND. 

Charles  D.  Fisher,  Henry  A.  Parr,  Christian  Devries,  Edwin  F.  AbelL 
Henry  James,  Clinton  P.  Paine,  C.  Ridgely  Goodwin. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Edward  L.  Bradford. 

MICHIGAN. 

Hon.  Wm.  C.  Maybury,  Col.  R.  G.  Butler,  Jesse  H.  Farwell,  James  W. 
Millen,  Edwin  F.  Uhl,  W.  R.  Burt. 

MISSISSfPPI. 

Maj.  R.  W.  Millsaps,  Hon.  R.  H.  Taylor,  E.  H.  Bristow,  Dr.  J.  M. 
Bynum,  Hon.  Ira  D.  Oglesby,  W.  V.  Sullivan,  Col.  C.  L.  Robinson,  Hon. 
A.  H.  Longino,  Dr.  B.  F.  Ward,  Hon.  T.  J.  O'Neil,  A.  J.  Russell,  Hon.  G. 

A.  Wilson,  John  E.  Wilcombe,  Dr.  W.  W.  Moore,  Hon.  J.  S.  Sexton,  Hon. 

B.  F.  Pratt. 

MISSOURI. 

Charles  Parsons,  C.  H.  Sampson,  Geo.  L.  Allen,  W.  J.  Lemp,  Chas. 
W.  Barstow,  F.  H.  Ludington,  S.  M.  Kennard,  Marcus  Bernheimer,  Chas. 
T.  Orthwein,  Thos.  Booth,  D.  H.  MacAdam,  Chas.  P.  Wonderly,  D.  R. 
Wolfe,  R.  Graham  Frost,  Prof.  S.  Waterhouse,  W.  H.  Thompson,  R.  M. 
Scruggs,  Hon.  E.  O.  Stanard,  H.  R.  Whitmore,  Nelson  Cole,  Joseph  Brown, 
Martin  Collins,  Anthony  Ittner,  C.  A.  Kendrick,  J.  D.  Churchill,  H.  M. 
Blossom,  Geo.  H.  Plant,  Chas.  W.  Scudder,  W.  T.  Anderson,  Hon.  Nathan 
Frank,  John  Wahl,  Col.  Thos.  S.  Case,  A.  A.  Whipple,  R.  M.  Snyder,  J.  B. 
Harrison,  E.  H.  Phelps,  Gustav  Dryes,  O.  B.  Gunn,  P.  Richie,  E.  O. 
Bartlett,  Peter  Nicholson,  Geo.  T.  Parker,  Robt.  Moore,  A.  P.  Smith,  Isaac 
H.  Sturgeon,  R.  S.  Brookings,  S.  M.  Kerr,  M.  L.  Halman,  J.  C.  Marsh.. 
David  Rankin,  Hon.  Martin  L.  Clardy,  Dr.  J.  A.  Postlewaite,  Geo.  D.  Perry 
H.  M.  Meier,  Ed.  Walsh,  Jr.,  W.  J.  Smith. 

NEBRASKA. 

Col.  Champion  S.  Chase,  James  Stephenson,  J.  B.  Kouney. 

TENNESSEE. 

Geo.  W.  Ochs,  William  Warner,  J.  J.  Williams,  H.  Eckles. 

KANSAS. 

Howell  Jones,  Geo.  W.  Marton,  O.  H.  Bently,  William  Martindale,. 
Reese  R.  Price,  John  M.  Price,  H.  D.  Rush,  Hon.  J.  C.  Caldwell,  E.  B. 
Purcell,  John  N.  Ritter,  L.  Stillwell,  H.  Clay  Park,  W.  C.  Perry,  C.  W 
Blair,  Hon.  Geo.  T.  Anthony,  Charles  Schifftbauer,  S.  O.  Thatcher,  Johm 
R.  Mulvane,  Ira  E.  Lloyd,  James  M.  Harvey. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


53 


NEW  MEXICO. 

F.  W.  Risque. 

GEORGIA. 

W.  W.  Gordon,  S.  H.  Hawkins,  W.  B.  Burroughs. 

NORTH  CAROLINA. 

Dr.  Thos.  D.  Hogg,  Gen.  R.  B.  Vance,  S.  F.  Patterson,  W.  A.  Graham. 
Dr.  S.  S.  Satchett,  J.  A.  Long,  D.  F.  Cooper,  James  A.  Bryan,  Gen.  W.  S. 
Roberts,  David  S.  Cowan,  Hon.  W.  W.  Robbing,  W.  A.  Whittaker,  Hon. 
W.  J.  Montgomery,  R.  J.  Brevard,  J.  M.  Johnson,  E.  J.  Hale,  W.  H. 
Kitchen,  D.  Alexander,  E.  B.  Borden,  Hamilton  McMillin,  Dr.  C.  D.  Smith. 

OHIO . 

Hon.  Amos  Townsend,  R.  T.  Hough,  Hon.  J.  Warren  Keifer,  Hon. 
Geo.  L.  Converse,  Joseph  R.  Brown,  Mathew  Ryan,  W.  H.  Doan,  H.  H. 
Myer,  Julius  Freiberg,  S.  W.  Frost,  J.  Milton  Blair,  Fred.  W.  Hubbard,  J. 
A.  Jeffry,  Wade  Converse. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Edward  R.  Wood,  A.  G.  Elliot,  Hiram  Andres. 

INDIANA. 

Samuel  Vickery,  Alex.  Gilchrist,  Jno.  Waterman,  Henry  D.  Pierce,  D. 
M.  Perry. 

SOUTH  DAKOTA. 

V.  T.  McGillicuddy. 

STATE  OF  WASHINGTON. 

Nelson  Bennett,  Capt.  Edw.  Eldridge,  D.  H.  Gilman,  J.  M.  Weather- 
wax,  M.  M.  Godman,  Geo.  D.  Shannon. 

TEXAS . 

James  Moore,  R.  B.  Hawley,  Leon  Blum,  J.  T.  Hurley. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Hon.  Stephen  Elkins,  R.  H.  Willett. 

VIRGINIA. 

John  L.  Williams,  William  H.  Allison,  L.  B.  Tatum,  Marshall  Gilliam, 
William  H.  Palmer,  T.  C.  Williams,  Jr.,  Joseph  Bryan,  Wm.  R.  Trigg,  T. 
William  Pemberton,  James  Pleasants,  John  W.  Riely,  William  C.  Preston, 
Jas.  R.  Ellerson,  Junius  Morris,  R.  A.  Lancaster,  Edward  Tabb  Crump, 
L.  Marburg,  Eppa  Hunton,  Jr. ,  H.  8.  Trout,  J.  A.  Watts,  P.  A.  Krise,  J. 
M.  Booker,  F.  R.  Lassiter,  P.  W.  Burke,  Edward  C.  Echols,  Thos.  L.  Rosser, 
Micajah  Woods,  K.  C.  Murray,  M.  Glennan,  Robert  Hughes,  George  C. 
Cabell,  W.  P.  Craves,  Daniel  Trigg,  Edward  C.  Minor.  Thomas  Potts 

ALABAMA. 

Hon.  John  T.  Morgan,  W.  T.  West,  A.  H.  Kellar,  S.  H.  Dent,  C.  O. 
Godfrey,  Cal  Cadle. 


54 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


COLORADO. 

C.  A.  Gale. 

WEST  VIRGINIA. 

C.  W.  Brockmier,  Capt.  Robert  McEldowney,  J.  N.  Vance,  J.  N.  Cam- 
den, F.  B.  Enslow,  J.  L.  Caldwell,  John  K.  Thompson,  W.  Seymour  Ed- 
wards, Maj.  Engene  Dana,  John  W.  Harris,  Capt.  Isaiah  Welsh,  J.  H. 
Bramwell,  Hon.  D.  D.  T.  Farnsworth,  F.  S.  Landstreet,  Hon.  B.  F.  Martin, 

B.  J.  Baker,  Hon.  John  Bassell. 

Resolved,  that  on  all  questions  relating  to  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  every 
accredited  delegate  present  to  the  convention,  be  entitled  to  one  vote. 

J.  A.  CLAYTON,  Chairman." 

The  Committee  on  Permanent  Organization  made  the  following  report, 
which  was  adopted : 

' '  Your  Committee  on  Permanent  Organization,  beg  leave  to  make  the 
following  report,  and  recommend  its  adoption: 

For  permanent  President,  Hon.  George  L.  Converse,  of  Ohio. 

For  Senior  Vice-President,  Hon.  Horace  Davis,  of  California,  and  one 
Vice  President  from  each  State  and  Territory,  as  follows:  C.  A.  Godfrey, 
Alabama;  George  H.  Sanders,  Arkansas;  Charles  A.  Gale,  Colorado; 
Horace  Davis,  California ;  William  B.  Webb,  District  of  Columbia ;  W.  A. 
Morrison,  Florida;  W.  W,  Gordon,  Georgia;  Daniel  P.  Irwin,  Indiana;  D. 
F.  Berry,  Iowa;  D.  R.  Sparks,  Illinois;  C.  Caldwell,  Kansas;  J.  D.  Powers, 
Kentucky;  Breedlove  Smith,  Louisana;  Ed.  S.  Bradford,  Massachusetts; 
Hon.  W.  C.  Maybury,  Michigan ;  Charles  Parsons,  Missouri ;  J.  E.  Wilcombe, 
Mississippi;  Capt.  Ambrose  Snow.  New  York;  T.  B.  Catron,  New  Mexico; 

C.  S.  Chase,  Nebraska;  E.  J.  Hale,  North  Carolina;  Amos  Townsend,  Ohio; 
H.  E.  Elliott,  Pennsylvania;  T.  V.  McGillicuddy,  South  Dakota;  Geo.  W. 
Ochs,  Tennessee ;  James  Moore,  Texas;  E.  C.  Minor,  Virginia;  W.  S.  Ed- 
wards, West  Virginia ;  Capt.  E.  Eldridge,  Washington. 

H.  E.  Elliot,  permanent  Vice-President. 

E.  R.  Wood,  permanent  Chairman  of  Executive  Committee. 

D.  H.  MacAdam,  permanent  Secretary,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

J.  C.  Broadwell,  permanent  Assistant  Secretary,  St.  Louis. 

An  Executive  Committee  to  consist  of  one  member  from  each  State  and 
Territory,  and  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  as  follows :  Joseph  C.  Clark, 
Alabama ;  Hon.  Logan  H.  Roots,  Little  Rock,  Ark. ;  Chas.  Gale,  Colorado ; 
B.  F.  Langford,  California;  L.  D.  Hine,  District  of  Columbia;  E.  R.  Gunby, 
Florida  ;  W.  B.  Burroughs,  Georgia;  Henry  D.  Pierce,  Indiana  ;  M.  H. 
Moore,  Iowa ;  William  Vocke,  Illinois ;  Howell  Jones,  Kansas ;  Richard  P. 
Ernst,  Kentucky;  Fred.  Gardener,  Louitana;  Hon.  M.  L.  Clardy,  Missouri; 
R.  G.  Butler,  Michigan;  Ed.  S.  Bradford,  Massachusetts;  R.  W.  Milsap, 
Mississippi;  John  F.  Henry,  New  York;  W.  B.  Childers,  New  Mexico; 
Champion  S.  Chase,  Nebraska ;  James  A.  Bryan,  North  Carolina ;  W.  H. 
Doan,  Ohio;  E.  R.   Wood,   Pennsylvania;  V.  T.  McGilHcuddy,  South 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


55 


Dakota ;  Willard  Warner,  Tennessee ;  Thos.  Hurley,  Texas ;  John  Skelton 
Williams,  Virginia;  J.  E.  Dana,  West  Virginia ;  D.  H.  Gilmore,  Washing- 
ton; Hon,  George  L.  Converse,  Columbus,  Ohio,  Chairman;  Henry  D. 
Tierce,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  Secretary. 

Signed,     W.  T.  WEST,  Chairman. 

•  J.  D.  POWERS,  Secretary." 

President  Converse,  introduced  by  Gov.  Stanard,  then  addressed  the 
•Convention  as  follows : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention: 

My  first  duty  is  to  express  the  appreciation  I  feel  for  the  per- 
rsonal  honor  conferred,  in  being  selected  to  preside  over  this 
National  Convention.  (Applause.)  I  esteem  it  more  as  a  compli- 
ment to  my  State  than  myself,  in  the  absence  of  the  eminent  and 
learned  Senator  from  Alabama,  who  was  expected  to  preside 
here. 

The  subject  before  you  to  be  considered  is  a  grand  one, 
appealing  to  the  best  judgment,  to  the  best  patriotism  of  the 
freest  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  (Applause.)  It  is  a  sub- 
ject that  cannot  be  magnified. 

The  question  has  been  asked  whether  there  is  constitutional 
power  on  the  part  of  the  American  Government  to  engage  in  this 
work  and  control  it.  Why,  gentlemen,  in  myjudgment,  this  work 
is  as  necessary  to  the  defense  of  our  extensive  borders,  as  the 
■casting  of  Ci*nnon,  or  the  building  of  ships  in  time  of  war, 
(Applause.)  It  is  necessary  for  the  general  welfare  of  this 
country  that  the  starry  banner  should  preside  over  that  great 
work,  and  that  the  American  people  should  carry  it  forward. 
(Applause.)  That  work,  when  concluded  will  be  the  key  to 
peace  on  this  hemisphere,  as  well  as  the  protection  of  our  West- 
ern, our  Eastern,  and  our  Gulf  coast.  We  cannot  magnify  the 
importance  of  this  work.  Sixty  millions  of  people  in  possession 
and  control  of  that  great  highway  of  commerce,  will  have  power 
■  enough  to  command  peace,  or  at  least,  by  moral  suasion  prevent 
the  peace  from  being  broken. 

Our  Constitution  provides  for  the  raising  of  revenue  for  the 
payment  of  the  debts  and  carrying  on  the  government;  it  provides 
.also  for  the  general  welfare,  and  our  history  has  made  precedents 
■for  us.  We  purchased  the  peninsula  of  Florida,  and  all  this  vast 
^territory  west  and  northwest ;  we  expended  public  money  for  it; 


56 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


it  was  necessary  to  our  defense,  and  therefore  it  was  Constitu- 
tional, and  it  was  approved  by  the  American  people.  (Applause.)- 
When  we  purchased  territory  from  Mexico,  and  when  we  pur- 
chased Louisiana  for  seven  million  dollars  and  paid  the  money 
down,  that  was  a  proof  of  the  constitutionality  of  such  action. 
(Applause.)  No,  there  will  be  no  question  about  that;  the 
American  Constitution,  and  the  American  people  under  it,  have 
power  enough  to  provide  for  the  great  welfare  and  for  the  public 
defense,  wherever  the  circumstances  and  the  interests  of  the 
nation  may  require  it.  (Applause.) 

I  regard, — though  it  is  not  within  my  province,  in  the  few 
words  I  have  to  say,  to  discuss  any  proposition — I  regard  the 
overshadowing  interest  and  necessity  of  the  immediate  construc- 
tion of  this  work,  to  be  the  fact,  that  it  is  the  key  to  war  and  to 
peace,  and  that  it  controls  both.  But  the  American  nation  is  a 
nation  of  peace ;  we  never  think  of  war,  and  I  pray  to  God  we 
never  will  have  cause  to  think  of  it;  though  we  may  have  wars  of 
defense  in  the  fnture.  Our  mission  is  a  mission  of  peace,  of  good 
will  to  men,  good  will  to  all  nations,  justice  and  equity  to  nations 
and  to  individuals.  (Applause.)  We  don't  need  this  work  in 
order  to  make  money  out  of  it  by  the  tolls  that  may  be  received. 
The  American  people  to-day  are  the  richest  people  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  Our  riches  lie  in  the  strong  arms  of  our  laboring 
people;  we  count  the  beads  of  sweat  that  drop  from  the  brow  of 
labor,  and  that  makes  us  rich  and  we  shall  never  need  conquests 
for  money  or  honor.  (Applause.) 

The  second  great  reason  for  constructing  this  work,  and  con- 
structing it  immediately,  is  the  one  suggested  and  dwelt  upon 
yesterday  so  handsomely.  It  will  bring  to  the  producer  of  mer- 
chandise a  larger  share  of  reward  for  his  toil  than  he  now  gets, 
by  bringing  his  produce  nearer  to  a  market,  so  that  the  producer, 
the  raiser  of  grain,  the  producer  of  merchandise  of  any  kind, 
either  upon  the  Atlantic  or  upon  the  Pacific  coast,  will  reach  a 
market  more  readily  and  more  cheaply;  therefore,  a  larger  surplus 
will  come  back  to  the  producer,  that  he  may  enjoy  it  in  the  bosom- 
of  his  family,  but  this  same  reward  will  be  carried  to  the  labor 
of  other  nations  as  well  as  our  nation,  for  our  mission  being  a 
mission  of  peace  and  good  will,  we  can  afford  to  benefit  the  labor- 
of  all  nations.    Why,  for  four  hundred  years,  as  the  gentleman: 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


ST 


told  us  yesterday,  people  have  been  looking  for  a  passage  across 
this  continent  in  the  interests  of  commerce,  and  now,  upon  the 
dawn  of  the  twentieth  century,  what  could  be  more  glorious  than 
that  the  great  Republic  should  give  to  the  powers  of  the  world 
this  great  national  highway  that  has  been  sought  for  four  hundred 
years. 

Gentlemen,  only  one  word  more;  I  hope  that  your  deliberations 
may  be  cautious,  brotherly,  and  end  in  bringing  about  satisfactory 
results  to  yourselves.  In  one  hundred  years  from  now,  when  the 
starry  banner  shall  gather  under  its  protecting  furls  three  hundred 
million  of  freemen,  (applause),  living  in  peace,  enjoying  the  com- 
forts of  their  own  industry  and  carrying  forward  a  grand  civili- 
zation, the  people  of  that  day  may  look  back  through  the  long 
vista  of  years  to  the  dawn  of  this  century,  and  they  can  judge  of 
the  magnitude  and  value  of  the  work  which  has  been  inaugurated^ 
and  which  we  have  met  here  to  assist  in  and  carry  forward.  They 
may  judge  of  the  patriotism  and  the  far-seeing  thoughtfulness  that 
prompted  the  work  and  carried  it  forward,  and  even  the  work  of 
to-day  will  be  regarded  and  better  known  in  future  history. 
(Applause.) 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  following  letter  : 

United  States  Senate,  Washington,  D.  C, 

May  31st,  1892. 

My  Dear  Sir:  The  Silver  Bill  of  Senator  Stewart  is  up  in- 
the  Senate  as  the  regular  order  for  2  o'clock  to-day. 

If  that  is  not  postponed  before  that  hour,  I  cannot  leave  my 
desk  in  the  Senate.  I  need  not  explain  to  you  why  this  is  the 
state  of  the  case. 

I  have  been  honored  by  the  Governor  of  Alabama  with  an 
appointment  to  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Convention  at  St.  Louis,  and 
I  will  be  much  disappointed  if  I  should  be  unable  to  join  the 
great  body  of  thinking  Americans,  ready  to  act  on  the  call  of 
national  duty  in  any  great  work  that  concerns  the  welfare  of  our 
people. 

I  wish  their  advice  and  instruction  as  a  Senator,  and  need  it 
far  more  than  they  need  my  advice,  or  any  information  I  can  give 
as  to  the  feasibility,  advantage  and  necessity  of  this  great  work. 
Every  man  of  plain,  practical  sense  in  the  United  States  fully  un- 


38 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


derstands  that  a  ship  canal  through  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  of  the 
largest  possible  capacity,  is  the  pre-eminent  necessity  of  our  con- 
tinent, our  hemisphere,  our  people,  our  government,  the  love  of 
our  posterity,  the  commercial  welfare  of  mankind,  and  the  peace 
of  the  world.  Matthew  Maury,  the  seer  and  prophet  of  this  age 
in  all  that  relates  to  the  seas  and  oceans  that  God  has  made  as 
the  highway  of  nations,  followed  and  developed  the  suggestions 
of  Humboldt,  where  he  pointed  out  the  reservoirs  of  water  in 
Lakes  Nicaragua  and  Managua,  as  the  source  of  true  and  safe 
:power  for  passing  the  great  ships  across  the  backbone  of  the 
Cordilleras. 

Few  men  can  be  expected  to  add  anything  to  his  forecast, 
,as  to  what  some  generation  of  intrepid  Americans  would  do  at  an 
early  day  in  utilizing  that  divine  opportunity.  I  will  not  attempt 
to  add  to  what  Commodore  Maury  has  said.  You  and  your  hon- 
orable and  worthy  colleagues  are  faithfully  and  sincerely  working 
out  the  result,  and  I  have  for  you  and  them  only  words  of  gratu- 
lation  and  compliment. 

I  am  persuaded  fully,  that  every  intelligent  American  must 
understand  the  subject  in  that  sense  that  makes  it  a  work  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  to  construct  this  canal.  Since  we 
acquired  Louisana,  no  President  and  no  statesman  has  failed  to 
say  that  this  work  is  an  American  duty  to  be  performed  by  Ameri- 
can hands. 

Fortunately,  the  question  of  our  power  as  a  government  to  do 
-this  has' undergone  a  very  able  and  thorough  discussion  in  the 
Senate,  before  the  proposal  for  government  aid  had  been  submitted 
to  the  Senate  by  the  unanimous  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations. 

The  great  engineer,  Mr.  Eads,  had  presented  to  the  Senate, 
through  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  a  bill  to  grant  government 
aid  to  a  company  to  build  a  ship  railway  across  the  Isthmus,  in 
the  Mexican  State  of  Tehuantepec. 

The  bill  and  amendments  were  supported  by  very  able  reports 
submitted  by  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  and  by  arguments  of 
marked  ability,  clearness  and  force,  of  the  distinguished  Senator 
irom  Missouri,  Mr.  Vest. 

The  bill  only  failed  because  the  country  was  not  convinced 
:u:hat  ships  could  be  taken  from  the  water  and  transported  long 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


59^ 


distances  over  very  high  elevations,  with  safety  to  the  vessel  or 
the  cargo.  And  as  Mr.  Eads  did  not  claim  that  ships  larger  than 
8,000  tons  burden  could  be  thus  transported  from  sea  to  sea,  his 
project  did  not  provide  for  the  transportation  of  our  ships  of  war, 
of  medium  or  large  size,  and  would  be  of  no  use  in  a  military 
sense.  But,  the  bills,  reports  and  debates  remove  all  questions 
as  to  our  power  as  a  government  to  aid  a  ship  canal  in  Nicaragua, 
and  have  thus  silenced  the  most  formidable  opposition  to  the  true 
duty  of  the  country  in  aiding  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  The  only  ques- 
tion of  power  remaining,  is  whether  Great  Britain  will  prohibit  us 
from  serving  our  country  and  blessing  the  world. 

If  she,  or  her  supporters,  would  avow  such  a  purpose,  the- 
frustration  of  it  would  be  summary  and  effectual.  It  is  not  avowed, 
and  will  not  be  attempted.  Our  treaty  with  Nicaragua  of  1867 
gives  the  United  States  greater  powers  in  the  ownership  and  con- 
trol of  the  canal,  than  were  proposed  by  the  bill  of  the  Senate 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.  Great  Britain  has  made  no 
complaint  of  either  movement.  She  made  no  objection  when  Mr. 
Arthur  negotiated  and  sent  to  the  Senate  the  treaty  with  Nicaragua 
of  1884,  which  Mr.  Cleveland  withdrew  and  suppressed. 

That  treaty  went  as  far  as  one  sovereign  state  could  be  per- 
mitted to  go,  in  the  control  of  the  territory  of  another  sovereign 
state.  Great  Britain  made  no  sign  of  discontent  at  this.  She  is 
the  only  power  in  the  world  that  has  assumed  the  right  to  restrict 
or  regulate  the  action  of  the  United  States  on  this  subject.  Her 
pretention  in  that  behalf,  so  wounding  to  the  pride  of  the  United 
States,  and  so  gratuitous,  had  abated  in  the  presence  of  her  know- 
ledge that  it  is  our  national  duty,  and  is  also  a  duty  we  owe  to  the 
world,  to  build  and  take  a  part  in  the  control  and  direction  of  this 
canal.  Evidently  Great  Britain  is  no  longer  an  obstruction  in  our 
line  of  national  duty.  No  other  country  has  ever  supposed  that 
it  had  the  right  to  obstruct  our  manifest  destiny. 

These  are  the  chief  points  on  which  I  would  like  to  be  heard, 
if  I  could  participate  in  the  convention.    I  desire  to  express  to 
you  my  unqualified  approbation  of  your  patriotic,  able  and  active 
work  in  this  high  duty  to  our  country,  and  my  most  sincere  regret- 
that  I  cannot  be  with  you  at  the  St.  Louis  Convention. 

With  great  respect,  yours, 

JOHN  T.  MORGAN.;;^ 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


At  the  conclusion  of  the  reading  of  the  letter  the  applause  was  long  and 
continued. 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  reports  of  the  Committee  on  Rules  and 
Order  of  Business,  which  were  adopted : 

First.    The  rules  governing  the  United  States  House  of  Representa- 
tives, shall  be  the  rules  of  this  convention,  as  far  as  is  applicable. 
Second.    Reports  of  Committees  shall  be  as  follows : 
1st.  Credentials. 
2nd.  Permanent  Organization. 
3rd.  Resolutions. 

Third.  All  resolutions  offered  in  the  convention,  shall  be  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  without  debate. 

Fourth.  Each  delegate  present  shall  be  entitled  to  a  vote  in  the  con- 
vention. 

JESSE  H.  FARWELL,  Chairman. 
MICHAEL  RYAN,  Secretary. 

The  following  resolutions  were  unanimously  carried : 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  express  its  extreme  gratitude,  heartiest 
thanks  and  greatest  pleasure  to  Gov.  David  R.  Francis  of  Missouri,  the 
Mayor  and  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  and  specially 
to  the  Committees  of  Reception  and  Entertainment  of  this  city,  for  the 
whole-hearted  and  generous  reception,  entertainment  and  welcome 
extended  to  the  members  of  this  convention. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  convention  be  extended  to  the  Gov- 
ernors of  States  who  have  sent  delegates  here,  and  to  those  who  recognized 
it  by  sending  telegrams. 

The  Committee  on  Resolutions  then  made  the  following  report,  which, 
.  after  full  discussion,  was  adopted : 

Your  committee  appointed  by  this  convention  to  submit  a 
preamble  and  resolutions,  in  relation  to  the  construction  of  the 
Maritime  Ship  Canal  of  Nicaragua,  report  that  the  construc- 
tion of  the  canal  is  feasible;  that  it  can  be  constructed  for  a  rea- 
sonable amount  of  money  and  within  a  reasonable  time ;  that  to 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  this  statement  we  need  but  refer  you  to 
the  following  facts: 

On  February  yth,  1876,  and  after  the  most  careful  examina- 
tion, the  United  States  engineers,  appointed  for  this  purpose, 
reported  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  detail,  but  which 
is  summed  up  in  the  single  sentence  that  the  "  Nicaragua  route 
jpossesses,  both  for  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  a  canal, 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


6i 


greater  advantages,  and  offers  fewer  difficulties  from  engineering, 
commercial,  and  economic  points  of  view,  than  any  of  the  other 
routes  shown  to  be  practicable  by  surveys  sufficiently  in  detail  to 
enable  a  judgment  to  be  formed  of  their  relative  merits." 

Add  to  this  the  report  of  Major  C.  E.  Button,  United  States 
Army,  made  March,  1892,  wherein  he  says:  "In  conclusion  it 
remains  for  me  to  say  that  I  am  satisfied  that  the  project  of  the 
company  for  a  canal  is  entirely  practicable,  within  the  estimates, 
and  if  the  financial  means  are  forthcoming,  the  result  is 
assured. " 

That  the  fair  and  conservative  estimated  cost  of  this  canal 
(which  estimate  is  made  in  detail  by  the  foregoing  and  other 
engineers)  is  $87,084,176. 

That  on  the  24th  day  of  April,  1887,  a  concession  was  ob- 
tained from  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua,  by  the  assignors  of  the 
Maritime  Canal  Company  of  Nicaragua,  granting  to  them  the 
privilege  of  building  and  operating  this  canal  for  the  term  of 
198  years. 

That  on  che  7th  day  of  February,  1889,  the  said  Maritime 
Canal  Company  of  Nicaragua  was  duly  incorporated  by  an  act  of 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

That  since  then  it  has  expended  thereon  $5,000,000.  That  if 
ample  means  is  provided,  the  canal  can  be  finished  in  five  years. 

That  all  money  heretofore  expended  on  the  work  has  been 
obtained  by  private  subscription. 

That  the  United  States  is  more  interested  in  the  construction 
of  this  canal  than  any  other  nation,  and  that  our  country  should 
aid  in  building  it,  and  upon  such  terms  as  may  be  safe  to  the 
government  and  just  to  the  company. 

That  the  tolls  on  said  canal  shall  be  reasonable,  that  com- 
merce shall  not  be  oppressed  thereby. 

And,  whereas,  the  building  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  will  unite 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  and  for  the  purpose  of  traffic 
make  one  sea  of  both  of  them;  will  shorten  the  distance  by  water 
from  the  Eastern  States  of  the  Union  to  the  Pacific  about  ten 
thousand  miles;  will  make  water  transportation,  between  the  two 
sides  of  the  continent,  quick,  cheap  and  effective  (and  thus 
largely  lower  freight  both  ways) ;  will  tend  to  divert  into  Ameri- 
can   markets  the  commerce  of  the    Pacific  Ocean,    and  thus 


62 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


mutually  benefit  our  country  and  the  countries  trading  with  us; 
will  build  up  and  make  secure  to  this  Republic  much  of  the  trade 
of  the  Central  and  South  American  States,  and  by  reason  of 
cheaper  water  transportation  benefit  them  and  us  alike;  will  more 
completely  Americanize  the  republics  of  this  continent,  make 
them  self-supporting,  self-reliant  and  commercially,  financially, 
and  politically  independent  of  influences;  will  increase  reciprocal 
trade  between  all  of  them,  and  thus  inspire  a  feeling  of  good 
neighborhood;  will  divert  a  large  portion  of  the  shipping  from 
Asiatic  and  Australian  ports,  in  its  way  across  the  Pacific  to> 
Europe,  via  the  Nicaragua  Canal  (and  thus  make  our  country  the 
half-way  house  for  Asiatic  commerce) ;  will  enable  our  producers 
and  merchants  to  open  new  lines  of  trade  with  those  far  eastern 
countries;  will  increase  our  opportunities  for  disposing  of  surplus 
American  products,  and  thus,  effectively  impress  our  commercial 
character  on  these  peoples ;  will  afford  additional  security  to  the 
Pacific  States  in  time  of  war,  by  shortening  the  sailing  time  from 
the  eastern  to  the  western  side  of  the  continent;  will  give  com- 
mercial and  financial  strength  to  the  whole  nation  by  harmonizing" 
the  interests  of  the  various  sections,  one  with  another,  and  thus 
promote  the  welfare  of  all;  and  finally  will  open  new  and  active 
markets  for  the  interior  and  the  Gulf  States  of  our  country,  and 
yet  promote  and  maintain  new  enterprises,  and  thus  make  the 
United  States  the  great  commercial,  as  it  is  now,  the  great  indus- 
trial, nation  of  the  world ;  therefore. 

Be  it  Resolved^  by  the  National  Nicaragua  Canal  Convention,, 
now  in  session  in  St.  Louis: 

That  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  hereby  requested  to 
give  such  financial  assistance  to  said  Maritime  Ship  Canal  of 
Nicaragua  as  shall  be  necessary  to  secure  the  speedy  completion 
of  the  same,  and  that  this  be  done  that  the  government  shall  be 
made  secure. 

Resolved^  That  this  convention  recommend  to  the  generous- 
and  patriotic  people  of  the  United  States  the  investment  securities 
of  the  company,  until  the  general  government  shall  have  acted 
thereon;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved^  That  a  Committee  of  Five  be  appointed  to  visit  each 
National  Convention  to  urge  the  adoption  by  such  convention  of 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


63 


resolutions  in  favor  of  the  building  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and 
asking  aid  from  the  general  government  for  the  construction 
thereof. 

MORRIS  M.  ESTEE,  California,  Chairman. 
James  Moore,  Texas. 
Champion  S.  Chase,  Nebraska. 
WiLLARD  Warner,  Tennessee. 
J.  A.  Burbridge,  Florida. 
J.  Warren  Keifer,  Ohio. 
William  P.  Ross,  Louisiana. 
E.  H.  Bristow,  Mississippi. 
J.  F.  Merry,  Iowa. 
S.  H.  Hawkins,  Georgia. 
Richard  P.  Ernst,  Kentucky. 
George  H.  Sanders,  Arkansas. 
W.  A.  Wh  iTAKER,  North  Carolina. 
V.  T.  McGiLLicuDY,  South  Dakota. 
E.  C.  Minor,  Virginia. 
Howell  Jones,  Kansas. 
D.  H.  Oilman,  Washington. 
T.  E.  Merritt,  Illinois. 
Aaron  Vanderbilt,  New  York. 

The  following  resolution,  offered  by  Mr.  Howard  of  Illinois,  was 
adopted : 

Whereas,  The  session  of  the  First  National  Convention  of  American 
citizens,  who  favor  the  immediate  construction  of  an  inter  oceanic  canal 
upon  the  proposed  Nicaragua  line,  have  been  measurably  successful  in 
awakening  public  interest  in  the  purposes  of  the  same ;  and 

Whereas,  It  will  be  deemed  highly  necessary  that  this  organization 
be  continued,  and  that  other  national  conventions  shall  be  held ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  when  this  convention  adjourns,  it  shall  be  subject  to 
the  call  of  the  Executive  Committee,  at  such  time  and  place  as  in  its 
judgment  the  committee  shall  deem  for  the  best  interests  of  this  great 
undertaking,  and  that  the  Executive  Committee  shall  be  authorized  to 
enlarge  the  membership  of  the  National  Association  in  such  manner  as 
it  may  elect. 

Mr.  Merry  of  Iowa  introduced  the  following  resolution,  which  was 
carried : 

Resolved,  That  the  construction  of  the  proposed  Nicaragua  Canal  is  an 
enterprise  which,  when  understood,  commends  itself  to  every  intelligent 
citizen,  and  in  order  that  the  masses  of  the  people,  many  of  whom  derive 


64 


NICARAGUA 


CANAL  CONVENTION. 


their  information  concerning  all  public  enterprises  from  the  reading  of  their 
local  newspapers,  may  have  a  correct  knowledge  of  the  advantages  of  such 
a  canal,  we  recommend  that  this  convention  appoint  a  committee  to  pre- 
pare an  article  for  publication,  that  shall  concisely  set  forth  some  of  the 
many  advantages  that  will  accrue  to  every  industry  in  this  country,  and 
that  a  copy  of  same  be  mailed  to  every  newspaper  in  the  United  States, 
having  a  circulation  of  five  hundred  and  upward. 
A  motion  to  adjourn  was  then  carried. 

During  the  proceedings  the  following  communications,  expressive  of 
deep  interest  in  the  work  of  the  convention  from  various  public  organiza- 
tions and  public  men  were  read : 

From  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Portland,  Oregon. 

From  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  San  Diego,  Cal. 

From  the  Water  Commissioners  of  the  World's  Fair,  Chicago. 

From  the  Deep  Water  Convention  of  Mississippi. 

From  the  Governor  of  Nevada. 

From  the  Louisville  Board  of  Trade. 

The  following  papers,  presented  by  members  of  the  Convention,  were 
also  ordered  to  be  printed : 


THE  NICARAGUA  CANAL. 


The  Benefits  which  it  will  Confer  Upon  the  United  States 
tTustify  its  Claim  for  Grovernment  Aid. 

BY  PROF.  S.  WATERHOUSE,  OF  WASHINGTON  UNIVERSITY. 

The  powerful  motives  of  commercial  profit  and  national  defense  urge 
an  early  completion  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  In  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  the  adjustment  of  the  balance  of  trade  between  North  and  South 
America  has  cost  the  merchants  of  the  United  States  more  than 
$3,000,000,000  in  gold:  and  nearly  all  this  vast  sum  our  Spanish  neighbors 
have  expended  in  Europe  for  commodities  which  our  own  country  could 
easily  have  supplied.  The  total  foreign  commerce  of  Mexico,  Central  and 
South  America  is  now  more  than  $950,000,000  a  year.  Of  this  aggregate, 
our  imports  amount  to  $174,000,000  and  our  exports  to  $59,000,000.  These 
reproachful  figures  suggest  the  need  of  a  more  aggressive  enterprise.  In 
the  keen  competitions  of  commerce,  our  countrymen  may  not  indeed  be 
able  to  exclude  European  merchandise  from  the  markets  of  South  America, 
but  they  can  at  least  emulate  the  energy  of  their  foreign  rivals,  and  secure 
a  proportionate  share  of  this  Spanish  trade.  The  Nicaragua  Canal  and  the 
Intercontinental  Railway  are  the  agencies  that  will  insure  American  as- 
cendency in  the  marts  of  the  Latin  States.  Branch  lines  will  diverge  from 
the  trunk  road  to  all  the  Pacific  ports  of  South  America.  Transfer  by 
rail  is  always  more  costly  than  carriage  by  sea;  consequently,  heavy  and 
bulky  commodities  will  be  interchanged  by  the  cheaper  transportation  of 
ocean.  One  large  vessel  will  carry  as  much  freight  as  a  train  of  250  cars. 
The  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  will  shorten  the  sailing  distance 
between  New  Orleans  and  Valparaiso  5,000  miles.  The  savings  of  several 
weeks  on  each  voyage,  the  avoidance  of  the  dangerous  passage  through  the 
Straits  of  Magellan  and  of  a  long  exposure  to  the  perils  of  the  sea,  the 
greater  exemption  from  loss  by  an  earlier  delivery  of  perishable  goods,  and 
the  incidental  economies  in  wages,  insurance,  freight  charges,  coal  and 
provisions,  are  advantages  that  will  enrich  merchantmen  and  greatly  aug- 
ment the  volume  of  trade  between  the  United  States  and  Spanish  America. 
The  growths  of  North  and  South  America  are  largely  complementary. 
Each  country  needs  the  products  of  the  other.  Both  continents  will  be 
benefited  by  an  exchange  of  foods,  fruits,  materials  and  manufactures. 
The  larger  wants  of  rapidly  increasing  populations  will  require  ampler 
supplies;  the  greater  frequency  of  communication  by  rail  and  canal  will 
impart  a  fuller  knowledge  of  American  and  Spanish  resources ;  established 
€mployments  will  be  quickened  into  greater  activity,  and  the  products  of 
new  industries  will  meet  the  new  demands  of  an  intercontinental  com- 
merce. 


66 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


But  the  benefits  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  are  not  hmited  to  our  Soutfo 
American  trade.  The  impulse  of  the  new  waterway  will  be  felt  in  the 
expansion  of  all  our  Oriental  commerce.  The  saving"  of  5,000  or  6,000- 
miles  in  a  voyage  to  the  far  East  is  an  important  advantage.  The  peopla 
of  India,  China  and  Japan  are  gradually  becoming  imbued  with  the  pro- 
gressive spirit  of  western  civilization.  The  exclusiveness  which  for  ages 
has  repelled  the  advances  of  European  refinement,  is  slowly  yielding  to 
the  liberalizing  influences  of  modern  thought.  Just  and  honorable  deal- 
ing will  doubtless  open  to  American  enterprise  the  vast  and  profitable 
markets  which  Oriental  reserve  so  long  kept  closed. 

The  population  of  Australia  is  rapidly  developing  into  national  great- 
ness. The  widely  diversified  and  constantly  increasing  wants  of  these 
civilized  and  prosperous  communities  will  create  an  extensive  commerce. 
In  the  race  for  this  valuable  prize,  a  shorter  course  ought  to  enable  Ameri- 
cans to  vanquish  their  European  rivals. 

The  trade  between  the  Pacific  Islands  and  our  Atlantic  States  will  flow 
through  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  the  grain  and  lumber  of  our  Pacific 
coast  will  seek  Eastern  markets  by  a  waterway  that  will  shorten  the  line 
of  transportation  more  than  10,000  miles.  No  part  of  our  country  will 
derive  greater  benefit  from  this  canal  than  our  Pacific  States.  The  ex- 
panding prosperity  of  our  western  border  will,  from  year  to  year,  ship 
larger  cargoes  by  the  Isthmian  route. 

In  their  insistence  upon  an  active  prosecution  of  this  great  work,  the 
people  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  show  an  intelligent  recognition  of  local 
interests.  The  Nicaragua  Canal  will  bring  our  Central  States  into  more 
intimate  and  profitable  relations  with  the  Republics  of  South  America. 
Formerly,  the  products  of  this  valley,  which  were  sent  to  the  western 
markets  of  our  sister  continent,  were  transported  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
and  then  shipped  to  their  distant  destination.  The  voyage  lasted  from 
fifteen  to  eighteen  weeks,  and  its  average  length  was  more  than  half  the 
circumference  of  the  globe.  But  the  new  waterway  will  reduce  the  dura- 
tion of  the  voyage  from  New  Orleans  to  twenty  or  thirty  days,  and  th& 
mean  distance  to  3,000  miles.  In  the  sharp  rivalries  of  trade,  the  maxim 
that  "  time  is  money  "  has  a  special  significance.  A  saving  of  time  is  an 
economy  of  money.  Quicker  voyages  bring  larger  returns.  The  nearness^ 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley  to  the  marts  of  South  America  is  an  advantage  of 
which  Western  merchants  ought  quickly  to  avail  themselves.  The  Nica- 
ragua Canal  will  furnish  a  direct  outlet  and  profitable  market  for  the  pro- 
duce, machinery  and  manufactures  of  the  Mississippi  VaUey. 

For  many  years,  the  merchant  marine  of  the  United  States  has 
languished.  Our  neglect  of  this  great  interest  has  been  an  expensive  mis- 
take. The  impolicy  has  cost  the  nation  hundreds  of  millions.  The  freights 
of  our  vast  commerce  are  now  almost  wholly  borne  by  European  vessels. 
The  aggregate  of  our  foreign  trade  is  now  more  than  $1,800,000,000.  The 
annual  tribute  which  American  commerce  pays  to  the  merchantmen  of 
Europe  for  the  transportation  of  commodities  is  an  enormous  and  largely 
unnecessary  tax.    The  exports  and  imports  of  the  United  States  ought  to 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


67 


he  carried  in  domestic  ships.  A  revival  of  our  merchant  marine  would 
enrich  our  own  countrymen  with  vast  sums  which  now  defray  the  cost  of 
foreign  freightage.  The  Nicaragua  Canal  and  the  Inter-continental  Rail- 
way will  be  important  factors  iu  the  re-establishment  of  American  ship- 
^ping.  These  great  and  mutually  beneficial  works  will  divert  trade  to  new 
-channels,  and  facilitate  the  commercial  supremacy  of  the  United  States. 
By  the  new  route,  the  voyage  from  Liverpool  to  the  ports  of  China,  Japan, 
Australia,  and  the  Pacific  coast  of  North  and  South  America,  is  2,000  or 
3,000  miles  longer  than  that  from  New  York.  The  opportunities  of  profit 
which  the  shorter  distance  presents,  will  enduce  Americans  to  engage  in 
"the  carrying  trade.  A  dependence  upon  foreign  nations  for  the  shipment 
of  American  merchandise  hardly  comports  with  the  greatness  of  the  United 
States.  Our  countrymen  will  not  attain  their  highest  material  prosperity 
until  American  vessels  bear  the  rich  products  of  our  fields  and  workshops 
to  the  wharves  of  every  seaport.  The  Nicaragua  Canal  will  facilitate  our 
aGhievement  of  naval  independence  and  the  recovery  of  maritime  pros- 
perity. It  will  also  more  fully  revolutionize  the  channels  of  trade  than  the 
Suez  Canal  did.  Few  American  ships  will  have  occasion  to  use  the  Suez 
Canal,  but  hundreds  of  European  vessels,  seeking  the  shortest  course  to 
their  destination,  will  pass  through  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  The  freights 
w^hich  are  transferred  by  the  locks  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  exceed  by  a 
million  tons  a  year  the  cargoes  that  are  shipped  through  the  Suez  Canal. 
If  the  tonnage  of  Lake  Superior  is  greater  than  that  of  the  Suez  Canal,  it 
is  reasonable  to  assume  that  the  shipments  by  the  Nicaragua  route 
will  also  be  larger  than  the  commerce  of  the  Egyptian  watercourse. 
The  climate  of  Nicaragua  will  increase  the  business  of  the 
canal.  No  ice  will  ever  impede  the  passage  of  ships.  When  the 
railroads  of  the  North  are  blocked  with  snow,  the  Isthmian  outlet  will  be 
free  from  obstruction.  During  the  Winter  months,  when  trains  are  liable 
to  be  detained  by  storms,  a  large  part  of  the  light  merchandise  which  is 
usually  dispatched  by  rail  would  probably  be  sent  to  market  by  the  route 
that  is  exempt  from  interruptions.  This  paper  will  neither  present  calcula- 
tions of  the  cost  of  construction  and  administration,  nor  offer  estimates  of 
tonnage  and  profit;  it  simply  suggests  those  general  considerations  which 
commend  this  great  work  to  the  hearty  support  of  the  American  people. 
But  it  is  morally  certain  that,  if  the  undertaking  is  economically  managed, 
the  tides  of  commerce  that  will  flow  tlii'ough  this  new  channel  will  bear  on 
to  fortune  its  far-sighted  owners.  An  enterprise  that  would  so  effectively 
promote  the  interests  of  American  shipping  and  so  widely  extend  the  com- 
mercial empire  of  the  United  States  should  not  be  permitted  to  fail. 

America  is  locally  exempt  from  many  of  the  perils  which  threaten  the 
tranquillity  of  Europe.  Its  geographical  isolation  relieves  it  from  the  annoy- 
ances which  are  apt  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  closely  connected  countries. 
But  no  land,  however  fortunate  in  its  situation,  is  blessed  with  perpetual 
peace.  On  several  recent  occasions,  grave  complications  have  disturbed 
the  friendly  relations  of  the  United  States  with  Foreign  Powers.  In  one 
instance  war  was  imminent.    The  maintenance  of  national  honor  is  a  duty 


68 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


which  our  government  cannot  evade.  The  power  that  does  not  protect  the 
rights  of  its  citizens  has  no  just  reason  for  existence.  In  every  land,  the 
freemen  of  the  United  States  ought  to  enjoy  the  proud  security  which  the 
subjects  of  imperial  Rome  possessed.  But  the  vindication  of  national  rights 
will,  sooner  or  later,  involve  this  country  in  a  foreign  war.  Our  shore 
defenses  are  dangerously  inadequate.  Our  Pacific  coast  is  peculiarly  ex- 
posed to  attack.  Its  strongest  fortifications  are  American  men-of-war.  An 
active  foe,  anticipating  the  movements  of  our  fleet,  could  inflict  incalcul- 
able damage,  before  naval  reinforcements  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  could 
make  a  voyage  of  15,000  miles.  If  the  controversy  relative  to  the  seal  fish- 
eries had  resulted  in  hostilities.  Great  Britain  has  the  advantage  of  a  naval 
station  on  Vancouver  Island,  near  beds  of  the  best  coal  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
Supreme  considerations  of  public  safety  demand  the  construction  of  the 
Nicaragua  Canal.  The  insecurity  of  our  maritime  cities  invites  attack. 
But  however  urgent  the  need  of  rapid  and  united  action,  the  concentration 
of  our  fleet  on  either  coast  is  a  task  that  would  at  present  require  months 
for  its  accomplishment.  But  the  Nicaragua  Canal  would  enable  our  gov- 
ernment promp  ly  to  meet  emergencies  and  repel  from  our  seaboards  the 
invasion  which  their  present  defenselessness  attracts.  The  expenses  of  a 
naval  war  and  the  losses  of  our  seaports  would  soon  exceed  the  cost  of  a 
new  shipway.  Lake  Nicaragua  is  an  excellent  station  for  men-of-war.  Its 
elevation  causes  a  delightfully  equable  and  healthy  climate,  while  its 
waters  and  the  adjacent  fields,  yield  an  abundance  of  wholesome  foods  and 
delicious  fruits.  The  fresh  water  tends  to  keep  alike  the  boilers  and  the  hulls 
of  the  vessels  free  from  incrustations.  From  this  midway  station  our  war 
ships  could  quickly  respond  to  the  call  of  danger.  The  usefulness  of  the 
Nicaragua  route  as  a  commercial  channel  is  far  less  than  its  importance  as 
a  public  safeguard.  If  our  government  declines  to  aid  in  building  this 
canal,  it  will  neglect  a  powerful  means  of  national  defense.  A  failure  to 
secure  facilities  of  such  strategic  importance  to  the  commercial  prosperity 
and  naval  efficiency  of  the  United  States,  would  indicate  an  inexplicable 
lack  of  sagacious  statesmanship. 

The  inter-oceanic  canal  is  well  situated.  It  is  located  as  near  the 
United  States  as  natural  obstacles  will  permit.  The  ocean  winds  of  the 
region  in  which  it  lies  are  favorable  to  the  approach  of  sailing  vessels. 
While  the  river  and  lake  will  lessen  the  amount  of  excavation,  diamond 
drills,  more  powerful  explosives,  and  improved  dredging  machinery  will 
reduce  the  cost  of  construction.  No  insuperable  difficulties  confront  the 
builders.  The  allied  forces  of  capital  and  engineering  skill  can  surmount 
even  the  granite  barriers  of  nature. 

A  work  of  such  momentous  importance  to  the  American  people,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  ought  to  support.  A  neglect  of  so  grand 
an  opportunity  to  promote  our  national  interests  would  be  a  culpable  re- 
missness. The  wise  liberality  with  which  the  governments  of  Europe  have 
built  great  public  works  is  worthy  of  American  imitation.  Assuredly,  it 
i.s  a  reproach  to  free  institutions,  if  monarchies  are  permitted  to  surpass 
republics  in  intelligent  provision  for  the  welfare  of  the  people.  Retrench- 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


69 


ment  is  not  always  reform ;  a  generous  expenditure  is  sometimes  the  truest 
frugality.  While  no  pretense  of  popular  benefit  can  ever  justify  a  corrupt 
or  prodigal  use  of  public  money,  the  richest  country  in  the  world  cannot 
afford  to  sacrifice  inestimable  interests  to  mistaken  conceptions  of  econ- 
omy. The  grant  of  public  aid— whether  by  subsidy,  loan,  or  endorsement 
— should  be  surrounded  by  safeguards  which  will  prevent  the  misuse  of 
funds  and  secure  the  government  from  loss.  The  control  of  the  canal  must 
be  vested  in  the  United  States.  In  the  hands  of  a  foreign  power  the  ship- 
way  would  be  a  constant  menace  to  the  mercantile  interests  and  naval 
success  of  the  United  States.  The  command  of  this  watercourse  by  our 
own  government  is  an  American  necessity.  But,  without  concessions  of 
assistance,  the  United  States  would  have  no  valid  title  to  such  a  jurisdic- 
tion. Surely,  our  government  can  devise  guarantees  that  will  secure  its 
subvention  from  fraud  or  waste.  An  assumption  that  Congress  canno* 
provide  warranties  that  will  prevent  a  misappropriation  of  public  moneys 
is  a  reflection  on  the  business  sense  and  legal  ability  of  American  states- 
men. A  patriotism  that  comprehends  the  vastness  of  our  national  re- 
sources and  understands  the  higher  duties  of  American  citizenship,  will 
not  be  misled  by  false  notions  of  economy  to  oppose  an  enterprise  so  greatly 
conducive  to  the  commercial  and  industrial  prosperity  of  the  United  States, 

The  history  of  canals  affords  gratifying  examples  of  human  progress. 
It  was  the  sole  purpose  of  the  Actsean  Canal  of  Xerxes  to  furnish  a  safe 
passage  for  a  fleet  whose  mission  was  the  subjugation  of  the  most  bril- 
liantly endowed  race  of  all  times.  Fortunately  for  the  higher  interests  of 
mankind,  Grecian  heroism  repelled  the  barbaric  invader.  It  is  the  chief  1 
object  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  to  promote  the  victories  of  peace  and  diffuse  ^ 
throughout  the  world  the  blessings  of  an  industrial  civilization.  This  new  ' 
triumph  of  engineering  genius  will  broaden  the  sway  of  our  noble  English 
tongue,  ally  American  and  Spanish  Republics  in  a  closer  friendship,  and 
strengthen  throughout  the  Western  Hemisphere  the  foundations  of  free 
institutions.  The  Columbian  Exposition,  with  its  displays  of  the  infinitely 
varied  masterpieces  of  art,  science,  and  industrial  skill,  with  all  its  myriad 
illustrations  of  the  free  and  marvelously  prosperous  civilization,  that  has 
spread  from  ocean  to  ocean,  will  fitly  commemorate  the  400th  anniversary 
of  the  discovery  of  America.  The  completion  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  in 
1892  would  have  been  a  memorable  coincidence.  The  sailing  of  a  fleet 
across  the  Isthmus  on  the  very  day  on  which  the  great  navigator  landed 
on  the  shores  of  the  New  World,  and  in  the  very  region  in  which  he  once 
imagined  he  had  found  a  passage  to  the  golden  lands  of  Cathay,  would 
have  been  a  pageant  of  impressive  significance. 

But  the  consummation  of  the  great  work  will  be  celebrated  before  the 
dawn  of  the  Twentieth  Century. 

Washington  University, 

St.  Louis,  June  2d,  1892. 


THE  NICARAGUA  SHIP  CANAL. 


BY  J.  JAY  WILLIAMS,  C.  E. , 
Delegate  from  Tennessee  to  tlie  St.  Louis  Convention,  June  2d,  1893. 

One  of  the  most  astonishing,  if  not  absolutely  astounding,  things  in  the 
world  is,  that  our  government  has  existed  for  one  hundred  years  without 
cutting  this  continent  in  two  with  a  ship  canal  across  the  American 
Isthmus,  when  it  can  be  demonstrated  by  figures  based  on  the  report  of 
the  United  States  Senate's  own  appointee,  that  this  waterway  is  worth  to 
the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States,  over  two  thousand  mil- 
lion dollars ;  and  that  our  loss  during  the  half  century  previous  to  1890, 
amounts  to  fully  twenty-four  hundred  million  dollars ;  all  of  which  could 
have  been  saved  to  our  people,  in  money,  during  that  time,  by  using  the 
Isthmus  Canal.  As  the  route  through  Nicaragua,  which  will  not  cost  over 
one  hundred  millions,  is  now  shown  to  be  the  most  practicable,  and  by  far 
the  cheapest  of  all  the  lines  that  have  ever  been  suggested,  we  ought,  by  all 
means,  to  grant  such  aid  as  will  insure  its  completion  without  further 
delay.  I  would,  therefore,  say  that  the  wisest  move  in  the  direction  of 
retrenchment  and  economy,  for  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United 
States,  would  be  to  save  at  least  eighty  million  dollars  every  year,  by  aid- 
ing in  building  and,  in  conjunction  with  the  Nicaraguan  Government,  in 
controlling  and  operating  this  inter  oceanic  canal. 

The  saving  of  eighty  million  dollars  per  annum  will  command  a  capital 
of  two  thousand  million  dollars  at  four  per  cent.,  or  enough  to  build  twenty 
inter-oceanic  canals,  which  shows  the  great  disparity  between  the  enor- 
mous advantages  and  the  comparatively  small  cost  of  the  canal,  as  I  will 
now  proceed  to  explain. 

The  report  of  Rear  Admiral  Charles  H.  Davis,  who  was  appointed  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  to  collect  all  existing  information  concerning  the  several 
Isthmus  routes,  shows,  page  31,  that  twenty-six  years  ago  the  annual 
saving  to  the  trade  of  the  world,  by  using  the  Isthmus  Canal,  would  have 
been  as  follows : 


United  States . . . 

England  

France   

Other  Countries 


$35,995,930  00 
9,950,348  00 

,  2,183,930  00 
1,400,000  00 


Total  annual  saving  to  the  trade  of  the  world  in 


1866 


$49,530,308  00 


If  the  trade  increases  one  hundred  per  cent,  in  the  following  ten  years, 
the  saving  to  the  trade  of  the  world  in  1876  would  be  $99,060,416.00  per 
annum.    Now  from  the  above  figures  of  Admiral  Davis  I  propose  to  show 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


71 


^vhat  amount  these  nations  could  afford  to  expend  in  the  construction  of 
the  inter-oceanic  canal,  and  for  this  purpose  I  will  first  capitalize  their 
respective  annual  savings  for  1876,  as  shown  by  the  following  table: 


TABLE  SHOWING  THE  ANNUAL  SAVING  10  THE  TRADE  OF  THE  WORLD, 
CAPITALIZED  AT  6  AND  4  PER  CENT.  FOR  1876. 


Nations. 

Annual 
Savings. 

Capitalized  at  6 
per  cent. 

Capitalized  at  4 
per  cent. 

United  States  

$71,991,860 

$1,199,864,333 

$1,799,796,500 

19,900,696 

331,678,266 

497,517,400 

4,367,860 

72,797,666 

109,196,500 

Other  Countries  

2,800,000 

46,666,665 

70,000,000 

Total  

$99,060,416 

$1,651,006,933 

$2,476,510,400 

Now,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  above  mentioned  nations  could,  if  neces- 
sary, well  afford  to  expend  either  one-half  of  the  $1,651,000,000  of  capital  at 
six  per  cent,  or  one-half  of  the  $2,476,000,000  at  four  per  cent,  in  order  to 
cut  this  continent  in  two  with  an  inter-oceanic  canal. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  above  table  that  the  United  States  has  nearly 
three  times  as  much  interest  in  the  Isthmus  Canal  as  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  combined,  which  is  the  strongest  reason  in  the  world  why  Congress 
should  aid  our  people  in  completing  the  canal. 

Our  government  and  people,  could,  if  neces  ary,  afford  to  expend  at 
least  $600,000,000,  or  half  of  the  $1,199,864,330  of  capital  at  six  per  cent,  or 
$900,000,000,  or  one  half  of  the  $1,799,796,500  of  capital  at  four  per  cent. , 
a.s  shown  in  the  above  table,  by  cutting  down  the  Isthmus  barrier,  so  that 
ships  could  pass  through  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans. 

But  the  canal  will  not  cost  over  $100,000,000,  including  the  interest 
account  payable  annually,  for  five  or  six  years,  during  its  construction, 
and  if  our  government  will  aid  our  peojjle  in  building  it,  by  guaranteeing 
the  payment  of  the  interest  on  this  amount,  we  can  control  it  when  com- 
pleted without  any  loss  whatever;  for  the  reason  that  the  canal  can  take 
care  of  itself,  pay  all  interest  accounts  and  dividends,  so  that  the  United 
States  would  never  be  required  to  pay  one  dollar  on  the  guarantee. 

But  suppose  that  it  did  so  happen,  which  is  not  at  all  likely,  that  our 
government  was  called  upon  to  pay  the  interest  guarantee  of  $4,000,000,  we 
would  then  be  saving,  as  explained  in  the  sequel,  at  least  $76,000,000  per 
annum. 

While  my  figures  representing  capital  at  six  and  four  per  cent.,  which 
the  annual  savings  would  command,  as  shown  in  the  above  table,  may 
appear  fabulous,  they  go  to  show  that  the  cost  of  the  caual  is  so  insignificant 
in  comparison  with  its  enormous  advantages  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  that  the  question  of  (;ost  need  not  enter  into  the  calculation. 

Had  the  canal  been  completed  twenty-four  years  previous  to  1890,  our 
vacommerce  would  have  saved,  as  shown  in  Admiral  Davis's  report,  page  30, 


72 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


$35,995,930  or  in  round  numbers  $36,000,000,  and  in  order  to  show  what 
our  saving  would  be  in  1890,  I  suppose  our  commerce  to  increase  only  five 
per  cent,  per  annum,  for  the  twenty -four  years,  which  gives  179,800,000  or 
in  round  numbers  $80,000,000,  which  we  could  have  saved  from  the  use  of 
the  canal  in  1890. 

Now,  in  order  to  approximate  our  savings  for  the  half  century  previous 
to  1890,  I  reduce  the  $80,000,000  at  the  rate  often  per  cent,  per  annum,  for 
the  fifty  years,  and  it  makes  our  savings  in  1840,  $16,000,000  and  by  aver- 
aging extremes  and  multiplying  by  50,  we  have  a  total  saving  during  t)ie 
half  century  of  $2,400,000,000,  or  enough  to  build  twenty -four  inter-oceanic 
canals,  on  the  supposition  that  the  increase  of  our  commerce  from  1840 
would  have  been  ten  per  cent,  per  annum,  all  of  which  could  have  been 
saved,  in  money,  with  an  open  passage  for  ships  between  the  two  oceans ; 
to  say  nothing  of  what  we  have  lost  during  the  previous  half  century,  and 
what  an  immensely  large  amount  we  may  lose  in  the  next  half  century,  if 
the  Isthmus  Canal  is  not  completed. 

What  has  already  been  said  is  such  an  overwhelming  argument  in 
favor  of  our  government  aiding  the  enterprise,  it  is  perhaps  not  necessary 
to  mention  the  additional  millions  our  government  and  geople  would  save 
on  the  free  passage  of  our  naval  vessels,  and  say  twenty-five  per  cent,  re- 
duction of  tonage  tolls  on  all  our  commerce  going  through  the  canal. 

If  England  can  afford  to  buy  up  a  controlling  interest  in  the  Suez 
Canal,  I  can  see  no  reason  why  our  government  and  people  should  not  own 
and  control  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

This  canal  would  revolutionize  the  whole  commerce  of  the  world,  and 
turn  the  trade  of  western  Europe  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Car- 
ibbean Sea,  right  by  our  very  doors,  and  as  I  said  in  my  report,  published 
in  London  in  1871,  "It  would  open  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River  into 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  another  world  of  waters."  Hence,  our  commerce,  be- 
sides the  advantages  it  will  have  in  this  way  going  west,  having  3,000  miles 
the  start  of  western  Europe,  in  the  race  for  the  trade  of  the  600,000,000  of 
people  in  China,  Japan  and  the  isles  of  the  Pacific,  would  be  immensely 
increased,  and  our  people  benefited  in  a  thousand  ways,  more  especially  in 
the  sale  to  these  nations  of  millions  of  bales  of  cotton  and  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  iron  and  machinery,  for  the  construction  and  operating  of  rail- 
roads, besides  many  other  kinds  of  manufactures,  as  well  as  immense 
quantities  of  coal  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  to  vessels  going  east  and  west 
through  the  canal. 

Now  we  have  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  miles  against  us,  in  going  round 
Cape  Horn  to  these  countries. 

When  the  canal  is  completed,  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  vessels, 
that  now  go  east  from  Europe  around  the  world  to  China,  Japan  and  the 
East  Indies,  would  turn  their  prows  west,  touch  at  our  shores,  and,  as  I 
said  before,  trade  with  us  in  a  thousand  ways,  in  going  to  the  same  desti- 
nations. 

I  will  now  quote  from  Commodore  Maury,  who  probably  knows  as 
much  on  the  subject  of  opening  a  passage  for  ships  across  the  American 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


73-- 


Isthmus,  and  its  benefits  to  the  United  States  and  the  world,  as  any  living 
man.    He  said : 

"It  is  the  mightiest  event  in  favor  of  the  peaceful  intercourse  of 
nations,  which  the  physical  circumstances  of  the  globe  present  to  the  enter- 
prise of  man." 

In  this  connection  I  would  say,  that  had  the  Isthmus  Canal  been  open 
half  a  century  ago  for  the  passage  of  ships,  it  would  not  only  have  saved 
$2,400,000,000,  but  would  in  all  probabihty  have  averted  our  civil  war  and 
saved  250,000  lives,  which,  in  both  the  North  and  <he  South,  were  amongst 
the  bravest  and  best  men  of  the  land ;  besides  we  would  have  saved  in  the 
cost  and  destruction  caused  by  the  war,  $3,000,000,000,  for  the  reason  that 
the  whole  course  of  events  would  have  been  changed,  and  the  minds  of  our 
people  turned  into  diflPerent  channels,  as  Commodore  Maury  says,  towards 
the  peaceful  intercourse  of  nations,  as  well  as  between  the  North  and  the 
South  of  our  common  country.  It  will  also  appear  from  Commodore 
Maury's  statements,  that  my  figures,  showing  the  enormous  advantage  the 
opening  of  the  Isthmus  Canal  would  have  for  the  Governmenc  and  people 
of  the  United  States,  are  not  so  marvelous  as  might  be  supposed. 

If  the  canal  had  been  built  in  1866,  at  the  time  Admiral  Davis  made 
his  report,  our  commerce  would,  in  all  probability,  have  increased,  ashesays^ 
at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent,  per  annum,  which  would  have  made  our  annual 
savings,  at  the  present  time,  over  $100,000,000,  which  of  itself  represents 
a  capital  of  $2,500,000,000,  at  four  per  cent.,  again  showing  the  immense 
value  and  importance  of  the  canal  to  our  country's  commerce. 

There  are  other  advantages  which  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  would  have  for  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States^ 
some  of  which  are  as  follows : 

1st.  It  gives  to  our  Eastern,  Middle  and  Southern  States  an  enormous 
advantage  in  trading  not  only  with  China  and  Japan,  but  with  the  western 
coast  of  North  and  South  America,  Australia  and  all  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific . 

2d.  It  will  turn  the  wealth  of  the  East  Indies  and  the  best  trade  of 
Europe,  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Caribbean  Sea. 

3d.  Our  coasting  trade  on  both  oceans  will  be  immensely  increased,  or 
so  that  it  may  nearly  equal,  if  it  does  not  exceed,  the  foreign  trade  going 
through  the  canal. 

4th.  Cheap  coal  on  the  Pacific  coast  will  build  up  thousands  of  indus- 
tries and  manufactures  now  unknown  there,  but  coal  is  only  one  of  the 
many  interests  that  will  enter  in  the  immense  traffic  of  the  canal,  the 
future  of  which  no  man  living  to-day  can  comprehend. 

For  the  past  five  or  six  years  it  has  been  i)ublislied  at  different  times 
that  the  Chinese  were  supplying  themselves  with  looms  and  the  best  cotton 
spinning  machinery,  so  as  to  be  able  to  manufacture  cloth  for  her  people, 
in  her  own  country;  and  ten  years  ago  General  Grant  said,  that  soon  after 
the  completion  of  the  Isthmus  Canal,  the  Chinese  would  re(iuire  annually 
more  raw  cotton  from  us  than  our  entire  crop  then  grown,  which  was  some 
5,000,000  bales,  and  that  the  population  of  Japan  justifies  the  belief  that 


74 


NICARAGUA  CANAL  CONVENTION. 


her  people  can  consume  3,000,000  bales,  as  they  make  a  much  larger  use  of 
-cotton  than  the  Chinese.  General  Grant  had  been  around  the  world  and 
seen  the  people  and  talked  with  them  in  their  own  countries. 

Again,  our  Minister  to  Japan  in  1889  said  that  prominent  men,  officials 
and  merchants  of  that  country,  came  to  him  and  assured  him  that  if  the 
United  States  would  see  to  the  completion  of  the  Nicaragua  Ship  Canal, 
all  the  trade  of  Japan  would  come  to  America. 

In  reference  to  the  exclusion  act,  I  would  most  respectfully  say  that 
we  should  antagonize  China  as  little  as  possible,  for  the  reason  that  one  of 
the  main  objects  in  building  the  Nicaragua  Ship  Canal  is  to  secure  the  im- 
mense trade  of  that  Empire,  for  which  we  will  have  3,000  miles  the  start 
over  Europe. 

President  Hayes  said  that  "the  Nicaragua  Ship  Canal  is  a  dominant 
factor  in  the  control  of  the  commerce  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific 
Oceans,  and  that  Lake  Nicaragua  is  a  situation  unparalleled  in  its  im- 
portance to  our  national  interests.  Gibraltar,  Aden  or  the  Bosphorous 
do  not  compare  with  it,  in  the  value  of  its  military  position.  Upon  its 
bosom  an  iron-clad  fleet  may  float  in  fresh  water,  in  a  delightful  climate, 
surrounded  by  a  territory  producing  supplies  for  fleets  and  armies. 

' '  The  construction  of  the  canal  will  be  a  practical,  friendly  and  com- 
plete vindication  of  the  Monroe  doctrine,  assuring  our  friendly  and  para- 
mount influence  with  our  Sister  Republics  of  North  and  South  America. " 

1  will  now  mention  what  the  result  would  be  if  foreign  capital  should 
build  the  canal. 

It  is  plain  to  be  seen,  that  if  the  Nicaragua  Ship  Canal  is  constructed 
with  foreign  capital,  the  nations  whose  citizens  furnish  it,  can  not  consist- 
ently be  prevented,  by  our  government,  from  landing  military  forces  for  the 
protection  and  the  maintenance  of  the  neutrality  of  the  canal.  We  might 
in  such  case  need  to  use  it  for  the  passage  of  our  naval  vessels  or  military 
transports,  and  find  it  blocked  at  the  termini  by  a  foreign  fleet,  decUning 
to  permit  our  ships  to  pass  from  ocean  to  ocean.  We  should  then  have  to 
fight  for  what  we  can  now  obtain  without  any  difliculty  whatever,  and 
with  an  immense  pecuniary  advantage  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  and  the  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  furnish  the  capital  to  build  the  canal,  neither 
can  we  consistently  be  prevented  by  any  foreign  power  from  landing  mili- 
tary forces  for  the  protection  of  our  interests  and  the  neutrality  of  the 
canal,  and  more  especially  for  the  reason  that  we  have  nearly  three  times 
as  much  at  stake  in  this  waterway  as  all  the  rest  of  the  world  combined ; 
hence,  the  American  inter  oceanic  canal,  should  by  all  means  be  under  our 
government  control,  which  will  obtain  the  support  of  every  American  with 
a  patriotic  heart,  when  he  understands  the  subject. 

In  a  national  point  of  view,  the  canal  can  have  only  one  result  with 
intelligent  and  patriotic  Americans.  It  must  convince  them  of  the  neces- 
sity of  an  American  inter-oceanic  canal,  under  American  control. 

It  would  be  unfortunate  beyond  comprehension,  if  the  day  should 
vcome  when  the  great  canal  under  the  control  of  a  rival  maritime  power, 


NICARAGUA   CANAL  CONVENTION. 


should  become  a  menace  to  our  interests,  instead  of  a  peaceful  highway 
for  the  commerce  of  the  world,  which  it  would  be  under  American  conti'ol. 

It  is  inconceivable,  as  Mr.  Maury  says,  that  an  American  statesman, 
will  vote  to  permit  the  transfer  and  control  of  our  Isthmus  transit  to  any 
European  power,  requiring  the  United  States  Navy  and  our  American 
commerce  to  double  Cape  Horn,  at  the  option  of  the  parties  controlling  the 
canal,  when  we  have  nearly  three  times  as  much  interest  in  it  as  all  the 
rest  of  the  world. 

I  have  already  shown  in  this  paper  that  our  interest  in  the  canal  is  over 
$3,000,000,000,  when  it  will  not  cost  over  $100,000,000.  I  would  therefore 
most  respectfully  say,  that  it  is  our  bounden  duty  to  see  that  it  is  com- 
pleted as  soon  as  possible  for  the  reason  that  it  would  be  of  such  immense 
advantage  to  us,  in  not  only  saving  over  $80,000,000  per  annum,  but  in 
protecting  our  seaboard  on  both  oceans. 

Admiral  Davis,  who  was  appointed  by  a  resolution  of  the  United  States 
Senate,  had  access  to  the  very  best  sources  of  information  in  making  his- 
estimates  of  our  annual  savings,  that  would  result  from  the  use  of  the 
Isthmus  Canal,  such  as  the  Congressional  Reports  on  commerce  and  navi- 
gation, our  government  trade  returns,  and  to  over  one  hundred  of  the 
principal  authorities  relating  to  the  projects  of  inter-oceanic  communication 
through  the  American  Isthmus ;  hence  his  estimates  are  as  accurate  as  it 
was  possible  to  make  them,  and  as  I  have  based  my  calculations  on  his 
figures,  I  am  as  accurate  as  he  is,  as  anyone  can  see  for  himself,  by  taking 
the  trouble  to  go  over  my  calculations. 

The  question  now  is,  shall  the  loss  to  our  people  of  over  $80,000,000  per 
annum  be  permitted  to  increase  from  year  to  year,  or  will  our  government 
put  a  stop  to  it  by  guaranteeing  the  interest,  which  will  ensure  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Nicaragua  Ship  Canal. 

The  voice  of  the  nation  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and  from  the 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  is  calling  upon  the  Fifty-second  Congress  to  take  some 
action  in  regard  to  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  that  will  protect  the  interests  of 
our  country's  commerce. 

In  conclusion,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  make  the  suggestion,  I  would 
most  respectfully  say,  that  it  should  not  become  a  political  or  sectional 
question,  as  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  whole  United  States  is 
more  or  less  interested  in  its  accomplishment. 

J.  JAY  WILLIAMS,  C.  E. 

Jackson,  Tennessee,  May,  1892. 


ENTERTAINMENT. 


At  the  conclusion  of  the  first  day's  session,  carriages  were  provided 
for  the  delegates  and  their  friends,  under  the  charge  of  the  Entertainment 
Committee  of  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  who  escorted  them  to  the  St.  Louis 
Jockey  Club.  Here  the  delegates  were  invited  to  a  most  bountiful  repast, 
which  lasted  for  some  hours  and  gave  many  of  the  members  present  an 
opportunity  to  discuss  the  subject  of  the  building  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal, 
and  kindred  ones,  and  to  appreciate  the  boundless  hospitality  of  the  citi- 
zens of  St.  Louis. 

Hon.  Nathan  Frank  was  appointed  Toastmaster,  and  toasts  were  given 
and  responded  to  by  the  following  gentlemen : 

1st.  The  State  of  Missouri,  her  fertile  fields,  her  stately  forests,  etc., 
Governor  D.  R.  Francis. 

2d.  Our  Guests,  Col.  Vocke  of  Chicago. 

3d.  The  Nicaragua  Canal,  Hon.  Warner  Miller. 

4th.  The  Mississippi  River,  Gov.  E.  O.  Stanard. 

5th.  The  Government  of  the  United  States,  in  its  relations  to  inter- 
oceanic  canalization,  Hon.  Mr.  May  bury. 

Gen.  Keifer,  Mayor  Noonan,  Mr.  Parsons,  Gen.  Bryan  of  Cincinnati, 
Mr.  Ryan,  Hon.  Logan  H.  Roots  of  Arkansas,  Gen.  Caldwell  of  Kansas, 
Mr.  Gardner  of  New  Orleans,  Mayor  Chase  of  Omaha,  Mr.  Gunby  of 
Florida,  Mr.  Lassiter  of  Virginia. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
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